Complicated
by PurpleRain012
Summary: AU: Senior year was supposed to be the best year of their lives. Except two sworn enemies were stuck working together for the entire school year. One makes a bet with his friend whille the other tries to get through the year as peacefully as possible. She's a little weirded out by his new behavior. Will she find out the truth behind his ulterior motives before it's too late?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything or anyone you may be familiar with, just the plot.**

**Sooooo if this seems familiar to you, then it probably is. I had like 20 chapters of this posted, but I began not liking writing the story anymore because I felt like it was getting off plot or whatever. I liked the idea and wanted to stick with it so I thought, why not start all over? So I'm starting all over. It had to be done, I had been thinking about it for months. Beginning chapters will be basically the same with some editing, but then it'll change completely by the 10 chapter mark.**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

"Randy. Randy! RANDY!"

"What the fuck?!" Randy Orton exclaimed as he sat up in bed staring at his twin sister, Lita, with sleepy eyes who was shaking him not long ago. She slapped him on the back of his head. "What the hell was that for?"

"Watch your mouth," Lita glared at her younger brother. Well, he was three minutes younger than her, but still younger. "Get up and hurry up. We have to get to school. And I told you I had to get there early. It's the first day of school which means we get our uniforms." Their school didn't require a uniform, but the sports they played did. "You better be downstairs in fifteen minutes or I will leave you. It's weird because Christy is actually ready already. Fifteen minutes."

The redheaded teen went back to her room to get her books together since she was already ready herself. The brunette rolled his eyes at her retreating form and laid down back in bed and told himself he would get up in five more minutes. There was no way she was going to leave him, right?

"Christy, are you ready?" Lita asked as she entered the bathroom her and her younger sister shared. Both of their rooms were separated by said bathroom.

"Yes!" The younger redhead beamed from in front of the mirror, brushing her hair. "I'm so ready for high school! I can't believe I'm finally a freshman! How's my outfit?" She asked twirling around so her sister could get a better look at it.

Lita rolled her eyes as she went to her room and put her books, pens, and anything else that was important in her book bag. Her and Christy had two totally different styles. Christy was more of a girly girl and Lita herself had more of an edgy style. Well, Christy called Lita's style more emo like since she liked wearing black a lot.

"You look great. I'm going to head downstairs," she called from her room, grabbing her backpack before looking at the clock in their room. "Ten minutes or I leave without you. I'm going to check up on our dear brother once again." She made her way to Randy's room to see it was empty. _Good, _she thought, _he's probably finally getting ready. _She then made her way downstairs in the kitchen where her parents were. She sighed as she thought about high school. She, along with Randy, was a senior and couldn't wait to graduate. Sure, she had some of her close friends which made high school bearable, but she couldn't stand some of the people there. She just had to get through this year and she would be done with it.

* * *

"Are you ready for your first day of school?" Carol Cena asked her youngest son, John. She had two other sons, but they were already in college and out of the house. It saddened her to think her youngest son would soon follow in their steps within the next year.

He shrugged while he ate the pancakes his mother made for him. "I'm just excited to be playing football again." He took another bite of his pancakes before he added the next part with a growl. "Even though I won't be playing quarterback. I thought senior year would be a chance to let me play quarterback."

"Who's quarterback?" His father, John Sr., asked as he read the newspaper.

John scowled as he thought about the person who was going to be quarterback instead of him. "Randy Orton. Coach picked him instead because he's a little taller. So what? I'm better than him."

"So what position will you be playing?" His mother asked.

"The same position I played the three other years, linebacker," he replied.

"It's good. Stick with the same position," his father started to say looking away from the newspaper and focusing his attention on his son. "You play great at that position. One of the best at the high school level. Why would you want to change that? You're good enough to get a scholarship for college."

John shrugged at that, it was the truth, but he wasn't too sure if he wanted to play at a collegiate level. He just wanted to try something different. He smirked while he spoke up again. "At least I get to hit Orton during practice."

His mom frowned. "You two used to be such good friends. What happened?"

John rolled his eyes. "Yea, when we were five. He grew up and became an ass."

"John. Language." His mom said sternly.

The brunette looked down at his watch. "I have to get going to school now. Gotta get uniforms today. Don't know why they couldn't wait until practice after school." He took a last sip of orange juice and got up from his seat at the table. "Bye ma, bye pops." He went to the living room and picked up his bags and headed towards his car outside in the driveway so he could make his way to school. He couldn't help to think the last year of high school was going to be a good one.

* * *

Lita pulled up into the school parking lot with her siblings in the car with her. She was so close to leaving Randy, but he actually made it to the car just when she was about to pull away. She was still going to pull off driving, but Christy told her he was there now and it didn't matter if he was a minute later, so they might as well take him with them since they were all going to the same place. She was about to pull into a parking spot until a red and black mustang almost almost hit her Jeep taking the spot she was about to park in.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" She exclaimed as she honked the horn to her car. She knew who that car belonged to. It was all too familiar.

And that's when the devil himself stepped out of the car with a smirk on his face. "Try being a little faster next time, Red."

"Shut the hell up Cena!" She yelled at him before she drove off to find another parking spot in the student parking. "I'm going to kill him one of these days."

"What's so wrong with him?" Christy asked from the passenger seat. "He's cute."

Both twins groaned at Christy's statement. "And a total ass," Lita replied from the drivers seat before Randy could say anything.

Christy rolled her eyes, Lita thought that about everyone. "So you admit that he's cute?" Lita simply scowled at her sister, neither confirming nor denying the accusation. "Whatever. You think everyone's an ass."

Lita glared at her after she found a spot for the car and parked, but it was Randy who spoke up this time, "Well, she's right about him."

"Let's go," the younger Orton sibling said unbuckling her seat belt. "One of you can show me where to sign up for the cheerleading squad before you pick up your uniforms."

Lita shook her head as the three siblings got out of the car and started heading towards the school. "I really wonder how we're sisters sometimes. Sign ups are in the gym where Randal and I will be getting our uniforms." Randy and Lita didn't have to try out for their respective sports since they had been on the teams since freshman year. Christy, on the other hand, had to try out for the cheer squad because she was a freshman.

"Don't call me that." Randy playfully swatted his sisters arm ."Especially not in public."

"I hope the practicing with Trish and Maria paid off," she said referring to her sisters best-friend and her own best-friend. Maria was also a freshman like Christy and the two had been friends since elementary school. Trish moved to Baltimore from Toronto during 6th grade. The first person she met happened to be Lita and the duo immediately hit it off.

The trio finally made it to the gym where there were other students signing up for different clubs and sports as well as those picking up their uniforms for their respective sport teams or in a few cases, band.

"There are the guys," Randy said gesturing to his group of friends who were also on the football team. "Catch you two later. Bye." He went over to join his friends, including his own best-friend Dave who also played on the defense like John.

"The cute guy is looking over at us Li," Christy said waving at John who was at the other end of the gym just smiling at the sisters, but mainly Lita. He knew that would annoy her which made it fun.

Lita glared at John which made him laugh. "Stop that," she said when she returned her attention to Christy, slapping her hand down, so she wasn't waving at John anymore. "He's an ass. We don't like him."

Christy rolled her eyes. "You mean you don't like him. I'm my own person Li. Let me make my own decisions. I don't understand why you and Randy don't like him."

"Maybe because he's always getting her in trouble," a voice spoke up from behind them. And then he added something else and Lita knew there was a smirk on his face before she even turned around to see him, "But so is she."

Lita turned around to glare at Edge, who was also originally from Canada like Trish, but lived in Baltimore for most of his life. He was one of her closest friends as well. She considered Trish as her best girl friend and Edge was her best guy friend. If she had to choose between who she was closest with the two, she would probably have a tough time choosing between the two. But it was always nice to have Trish to talk to her about girl stuff which she couldn't talk to Edge about much and vice versa. "No, he's always getting me in trouble."

"Welcome to high school Christy," Edge smiled at the other female, ignoring Lita's statement. "Signing up for anything?"

She nodded. "Cheerleading."

"It's kind of hard to believe you and Li are sisters."

"That's what I said," Lita replied. "Are you playing soccer again?" She asked Edge after the duo started making their way to where they were handing out uniforms for the volleyball team. Christy spotted Maria and the duo went to find the table for singing up for cheerleading try outs that would be held later that day after school as well as looking for other clubs that might interest them.

"Na," Edge replied. "I'm going to focus on training for basketball with Christian," he referred to his other best-friend. Lita nodded as the duo stopped in front of the volleyball table meeting with one of Lita's friends on the team, Victoria. They started to talk about the volleyball season as well as what classes they had together. Edge left the two when he spotted Christian.

From across the gym, John still had interest in what Lita was doing. He didn't like her anymore than she liked him, but it was fun getting under her skin. As well as Randy's. "You know Orton," John said taking his eyes of the redhead and turning his attention to her brother instead. "Your sister looks hot today." He smirked when he saw the death glare on Randy's face.

Randy assumed he was talking about his younger sister since he knew John didn't really like Lita. "Don't even look Christy's way. I'll bash your face in."

"Who said I was talking about the younger one." John smirked, looking back at Lita who was oblivious to his stares. "I was talking about Lita. She looks like fun."

"I'll kill you," Randy said getting in John's face.

"Chill Randy," Dave spoke up trying to get in the middle of the two. "He's only saying that to bother you, which is working." Dave had nothing against John, he didn't understand why Randy and John hated one another which also translated in Lita not liking John as well. Or maybe she had her own reasons, he didn't know nor did he care. "John, leave him alone. Can we try to get through the first day of school without any fights?"

John shrugged. "Whatever." The bell rung which meant the students had ten minutes before school started. "Gotta get to homeroom." With that said, he left after he grabbed his uniform.

"I'm gonna kill him one of these days," Randy repeated his sisters earlier words as he grabbed his uniform as well and headed towards his locker so he could put it away and didn't have to carry it with him the rest of the day.

* * *

"Hello class," the teacher, Mr. Regal, said before he stood in front of the class during the first period of the day, which was also the second period of the day given this particular class took up two class spots. "Welcome to Advanced Placement Biology, or as some call it, AP Bio. As some of you may know, I am Mr. Regal." He glanced around the class to see everyone in the class, it was fill with a mixture of juniors and seniors, but mainly seniors. "Looks like you all situated yourselves where you want to. Well, we're going to fix that." The class groaned. Was he really about to assign them assigned seating? They were in high school for crying out loud. "This is a biology course. There is going to be a lot of lab work which you will have to do with a partner. As well as a final project which will include a presentation. So we're going to be picking partners and you two will be working for the rest of the school year for this particular class together. I will assign the partners."

Lita crossed her fingers hoping it would be assigned alphabetically. There was a chance she could get paired with Christian. But when she heard Mr. Regal assign the first pairing of Dave and Victoria, she knew it wasn't going to be alphabetical order. She just hoped and prayed she wouldn't get stuck with John. She completely zoned out on the pairings until she heard her own name. "Lita Orton and..." Mr. Regal paused for a moment before he spotted a name on his clipboard. "John Cena."

"You have got to be kidding me!" Lita exclaimed looking at the brunette who looked like he was going to protest. "Can you reassign us? I don't want to work with him. You should already know this. We had bio with you before," she said referring to when John and Lita had taken a class with Mr. Regal previously in their freshman year. He had to remember all the trouble they caused that year, he was glad when that school year was over, but here he was pairing them up for the school year.

"And what makes you think I wanna work with you?" John shot back at her. Everyone in class looked on in amusement. It was no secret that John and Lita didn't get along, it would be entertaining to see the two work together for the rest of the school year. If anything, it would just make the class more entertaining.

"Enough!" Mr. Regal exclaimed. "You two will learn to work together or you will fail the course, and if I'm not mistaken, you two are seniors. You need this course to graduate."

"Actually, no we don't," John spoke up. "Don't even know why I signed up for this class." Lita glared at John as he moved his stuff from where he was sitting before and sat next to Lita since the seat next to her was empty since Victoria had to move and sit next to Dave. How lucky she was that she didn't have to be partnered with a total jerk like John.

* * *

"Hey Li!" Trish exclaimed later that day when she sat down next to her best-friend with her lunch tray at lunch later that day.

"Someone is too cheery," Lita replied picking at the... well, whatever it was on the tray. She really needed to start bringing lunch from home. This cafeteria stuff just didn't look edible. Never had and never will.

"Senior year starting off horrible already?" Trish asked picking up a french fry from the other teens lunch tray even though she had her own.

That's when Christian started to chuckle before Lita could say anything. "We have AP Bio first and second period. Guess who else is in there."

"I'm going to take a random guess and say Lita's favorite person in the whole world, John?" Edge asked as he too took a fry from Lita's tray which earned him a slap to his hand.

Christian nodded. "Yea. So Mr. Regal assigned us partners that we will be working with for the rest of the semester."

"Oh my God." Trish interrupted before Christian could go any further, she knew where he was going with this. "You and John were paired up!" That was more of a statement than a question.

"Unfortunately."

"Fifty bucks say she kills him by winter break."

Lita looked up at Edge who made that bet. "Are you kidding?"

"Hundred bucks say she kills him within a month," Christian chimed in. "I was there, she really did look like she was going to kill him."

"You two can't be serious?"

"I'm in," Trish joined in. "I say she'll wait until the end of the year to actually kill him because she does need him to pass Bio right?"

"Yea, she does. But I still think she kills him within a month." Christian replied.

"So a hundred bucks then?" Edge asked with the other two nodding in agreement.

Lita glared at her so called friends. "I'm really happy you three are finding my crisis amusing."

On the other side of the cafeteria, another bet of its own was in the process of forming.

"That's rich John. Real rich," Chris Jericho laughed from across the table John was sitting. It was just the two of them for now until there other friends joined them if they had the same lunch period.

"No it's not," John scowled at his friend. "I have to work with the redheaded deviled bitch. And our grade depends on it."

"Well, stop bitching about it and do something."

"What do you mean?" John asked confused to which Chris rolled his eyes. Did he really have to explain everything?

"Try getting along with her. You know that'll bug her brother if he sees the two of you getting friendly."

"I would do anything to get under sissy boys skin, but hell no! No way am I going to get along with her. They have a younger sister who's a freshman, maybe I can mess with him by being friendly with her."

"You know, for someone who says you can get everyone to like you, you sure can't do that with her."

"Yes I can. Just gotta turn up my Cena charm."

Chris smirked. "Wanna bet?"

John rose a brow. "How much you talking?"

"One hundred bucks if you can get her to be your friend by winter break." John was about to accept until Chris held up his hand as a way to stop the brunette. "I'm not done. Another hundred bucks if you can get her to be your girlfriend by March." Chris added the next part just for fun, he didn't really expect John to take it that far, but if he did, well, that would just be another hundred for John. "Another hundred if you can bang her by the time we graduate the end of the school year."

John spit out the soda he was drinking when Chris said the last part. "You cannot be serious?"

"Well, I am about the first two. The last one is up to you."

"Fine, it's a deal."

"Bad idea," a voice said from behind them. "Orton is going to kill the two of you." Jeff said glancing between the bet making duo as he took a seat at the round table. "And I'm not talking about Randy, I'm talking about Lita. Actually, they'll do a double team on you. He'll start, she'll finish, or vice versa."

"Are you going to tell her?" John questioned.

"No, but-"

"Are you going to tell him?"

"No, but-"

"Then it's settled." He turned his attention to Chris. "You got a deal." The two shook on it while Jeff couldn't help but think this wasn't going to end well. John looked up towards the redhead and coincidentally enough, she did the same. He smirked and winked at her which made her glare at him and send him a not so friendly gesture. _This is going to be fun_, John thought.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Hope you liked the first chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

The rest of the school day went okay for Lita. Unfortunately for her, she also had spanish class with John during third period. That was almost half the day spent with that pain. She was hoping he wouldn't be in any of the other same classes as her and since it was the last class of the day, so far so good... until she walked into her last class of the day, Philosophy. "Perfect. I get to start the day with Cena and I get to end the day with that idiot. I love senior year," she said sarcastically, which didn't go unheard by him, as she saw the bane of her existence sitting in the back of the classroom.

She scanned the room because she knew Edge was in this class too. She saw him and decide to take a seat next to him with an empty seat next to the desk she was about to occupy. While she was getting herself situated and talking to the blonde, John looked on from his spot in the back of the classroom when an idea popped into his head to start 'Operation Become Friends With the Redheaded Devil'. He grabbed his books and his backpack and made his way to the empty desk right next to his favorite redhead. He sat down next to her and started to make himself as comfortable as he could for it being school, deciding this was where he wanted to sit. She finally noticed someone had joined her in the empty desk next to hers. She immediately scowled when she saw it was John.

"Someone is sitting there. So if you wouldn't mind- even if you do, I don't care- move."

John smirked. "So you have imaginary friends now?" That earned him a glare and it would have earned him more had the teacher not entered the classroom. "Chill, I'm jokin'."

"Well, someone as in someone other than you. Anyone is better than you. Even a non existent person. So you can move."

"It's a free country, I can sit where I want."

"Well, I already have to sit next to you and freaking work with you in Bio, so I don't think this is necessary." She paused for a brief moment like she was waiting for something before she spoke again. "I'm waiting. Move."

He gestured towards the desk before looking at her and speaking. "All of my stuff is already out here. I don't wanna move it again."

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she opened them again and turned to look at Edge who was watching on in amusement. He had nothing against John at all, they were kind of friends since they had some mutual friends. They didn't go out of their own way to hang out with one another, but they did converse every now and then. Just like everyone else, he didn't understand why the two seemed to despise one another so much. "If our friendship means anything to you, you will switch seats with me."

Edge chuckled. "You're over dramatic."

She glared at him. "Switch."

Edge sighed. "Fine."

"I don't want you to move," John started to say feigning he was upset. "I missed you since third period."

"I don't care. Really, I don't," she said getting up from her seat at the desk. She got up to move until she felt a hand on her wrist. "I swear Cena, if that is your hand, I will beat the crap out of you right now."

"And I'll help her," they heard Randy speak as he entered the classroom, which caused John to smirk at him. "What the hell is your problem Cena? Leave my sister alone before I make you do it."

The smirk on John's face widened even more before he turned to Lita who finally took her wrist out of his grasp. "You need little brother to do your dirty work for you? Too bad he-"

"Do we have a problem here?" Their teacher, Coach Michaels, who also happened to be the assistant football coach, asked as he interrupted his student after he finally noticed the little tiff three of his students were having.

"No," John said before Lita or Randy could say anything. "Just making new friends Coach."

"You're so-" Lita tried to interrupt him but he spoke over her.

"You and Coach Flair said you wanted me and Orton to get along this year because you don't want a repeat of last year, so I'm just tryna do that."

Coach Michaels glanced between the three noticing similar looks of glares on the Orton twins, which made him not believe anything John said, but he was going to ignore it as long as the three didn't cause any big disruptions. "Orton, take a seat," he said looking at Randy. "You two," he glanced between Lita and John, "you're fine here. No need to move Miss. Orton." With that said, he left to go to the front of the classroom with the two taking their seats.

"I hate you," Lita said turning to look at Edge, "You should have been more quick to switch with me." Edge simply rolled his eyes at her, but said nothing. She glanced at John for a second, simply giving him a dirty look. John was about to say something, but Mr. Michaels started the class at that moment, so he decided to just talk to her after class.

* * *

Lita tried to leave the classroom as fast as she could after class was over with. But she had to talk to Randy for a moment before she went off so she could remind him where to meet her after both of their practices ended, but he said he would just catch a ride with Dave since football practice ran an hour longer than volleyball practice. There was still time before practice, so Lita decided to change into gym clothes for practice before she would head over and watch Christy try out for the cheer squad. That was also her excuse to see Trish. They only had one class, Spanish, together as well as the same lunch period.

She walked over to her locker so she could put her books away before she went to change for practice. She was in the process of putting her books away until she heard an annoying voice call out to her. "Yo Red."

"Ugh," she groaned. She really did want to ignore him and had to question herself when she didn't. "What the hell do you want Cena?"

"You know my name is John."

"You know I don't care." She shut the locker hard and turned to face John with a scowl present on her face. "What the hell do you want... CENA," she repeated putting emphasis on his last name.

He fought the urge to roll his eyes, but failed. "We have three classes together. Well, basically four. But anyways, we also have to work together for the rest of the school year. So I was thinking maybe we could try to get a long and be friends."

Lita stared at him for a moment before she started to burst into laughter. She saw he looked serious and she stopped laughing. "Please tell me you're kidding."

He shook his head. "Not really. I just thought it would be easier if you stopped acting like a psychotic bitch to me all the time. It seems like you only save that act for me."

She closed her eyes and counted to three before she opened her eyes again and spoke. "Yea, well, it would be easier for both of us if you stopped acting like an arrogant jackass all the time."

John decided to ignore her. "So, wanna try gettin' along?"

"Me and you? Friends? Really?" He nodded and Lita started to burst into laughter again just at the thought of the two being friends. "That's not possible." Lita started to walk away towards the gym where cheerleading tryouts were to be held with John staring behind at her. This was going to be harder than he thought, but one hundred bucks could be worth it.

"Still think it's a bad idea," John heard someone from behind him speak up. He turned around and saw it was Jeff who for the second time that day, had told John his bet with Chris with Lita was not a good idea.

"You said you weren't gonna tell her so don't even think about it."

John started walking towards the boys locker room with Jeff walking beside him. "I know, but she's actually one of my friends. Just try not to hurt her."

"Well, I'm your cousin so I think you should pick blood over friends. Don't you?"

"Not when the blood is doing something stupid, but whatever. Just try not to hurt her," Jeff repeated once again.

"I didn't know it was possible to hurt psychotic bitches. Didn't know they had feelings."

"John-"

"Chill, I'm kiddin'. Sort of. But don't worry. Even if she does find out about it later, I'm sure she won't care."

"I highly doubt it. Especially if you try the second or third part of the bet and succeed."

"Well, I have to get her to be friends with me before the other two work out. Not really worried about the third one." He added the next part with a smirk, shooting a quick glance towards Jeff. "She'll probably throw herself at me and I won't even have to work for that one."

"Kinda like how she's throwing herself at you to be friends with you?" Jeff asked with earned him a scowl. "Yea, she's definitely going to beat the crap out of you if she finds out about this."

John rolled his eyes. "Whatever. I gotta go to football practice. See ya." With that said, John entered the locker room and started to prepare himself for football practice with Jeff heading the other way.

* * *

"Poor posture Stratus," Lita said as she walked up behind her blonde friend who was currently stretching before cheerleading practice. But before that, they were holding tryouts for the squad.

"Shut up. What are you doing here?" Trish asked as she stopped stretching and the duo walked over to the bleachers in the gym and sat down.

"I thought I would watch Christy tryout before practice started. We're actually practicing on the other side of the gym so it's not like I can't be here."

"I'm excited to see her and Maria tryout. I think they'll do awesome. Don't know if they'll make it because I'm not the only one who makes the decision. My dear co-captain does as well," Trish said referring to Stacy Keibler.

"Ugh," Lita groaned. "I don't like her."

"Me neither."

"Speaking of people we don't like. I have to spend half of my days with that irritating pest. We have half of the same classes together"

Trish waited for Lita to continue, but she didn't. "So what happened now?"

"So we have Philosophy last class and he decided to sit next to me, which wouldn't have happened if you listened to me and signed up for it like I suggested."

"Whatever. And...?"

"So then I told Edge to switch seats with me because I did not want to sit next to that thing. I already have to deal with him in Bio. I would like it if I could ignore him during Spanish and Philosophy. But nope, can't do that. Since that idiot decided to touch me and I was about to punch him and Randy saw and then Coach Michaels came over and then he told me I couldn't move and then he told the class that where we chose to sit that day would be where we would have to sit for the remainder of the school year. This is not elementary school. Why are these teachers so damn annoying? Why do I have to get stuck with that idiot? Why me?!"

"He's not that bad Li. You just have to deal with him for school. You'll be fine. Stop being over dramatic."

"I'm not. But he said something really stupid and funny after class a while ago." She started laughing before she could tell Trish what exactly it was. "He said..." she tried to stop laughing, but she couldn't because it was just too funny for her. "Okay, he said we should try to get along and that he wants to be friends." She somehow managed to get that out while she laughed and Trish looked at her like something was wrong with her.

"Are you done?" Trish asked her friend who had calmed down. "Okay. If he suggested it, then he's probably serious about it. Look at it this way, He could stop bugging you."

"I doubt it. He called me a 'psychotic bitch.'"

Trish laughed at that which earned her a glare. "Well, it's kind of true. I mean, in his defense, you do act like that to him."

"Only because I don't like him."

Trish rolled her eyes. "I don't understand why-"

"Maybe because he's always annoying me," Lita interrupted her friend who interrupted her back.

"Are you sure you're not getting yourself into the little stupid competitive petty shit him and Randy have going on? You said they actually used to be friends until middle school or something."

"Yea, trust me. It's not because of that. I have never liked him. He was always picking on me ever since kindergarten. So that makes me a 'psychotic bitch' for retaliating? I never liked him. I could care less whatever the hell is going on between him and Randy." Trish was about to say something until Lita looked across the gym and saw someone walk out of the guys locker room. "Ugh. I hate him." Trish simply rolled her eyes but said nothing, she was used to this.

Meanwhile, John decided he wouldn't say anything or send her any sort of signal which would piss her off. If he wanted to win the hundred bucks, he would have to pretend to be serious about it and get along with her enough for her to actually be his friend.

He had to walk past the duo on the bleachers as he made his way to the football field. "Hi," he did his best to leave it at that and not make any sort of remark to the redhead, which was harder than he thought, but he did it.

"See Li," Trish said when John was out of hearing range. "He looks like he's serious in getting along with you because he probably don't want to argue with you every five seconds. I think he's getting sick and tired of it."

Lita snorted. "I highly doubt it. I think... wait nope... I know this is just another way for him to get on my damn nerves. Whatever, I don't care."

Trish rolled her eyes. "Stop being stubborn. If you two actually try getting along, it would be easier for the two of you to survive this year." Lita started laughing at the thought of her actually getting along with John. That definitely wasn't going to happen. He had done nothing but get on her nerves and annoy her every chance he got. It was weird that he didn't decide to say something stupid to her when he left the gym. "Wow," Trish stared at her friend. "He's right. You are a psycho." Lita said nothing since she was too busy laughing and that comment from Trish just made her laugh even harder for some reason.

* * *

"So what was that shit you were tyrna pull with my sister before class Cena?" John heard Randy from behind him once after practice was over. They both promised the coaches they wouldn't get into it during practice, but that didn't mean they wouldn't say anything to one another after it was over.

John turned around to face Randy with a smirk present on his face. "Oh, I was just telling her how she was lookin' mighty fine today."

"Get any sick thoughts you may have about her out of your sick little mind."

"It's far too late for that Orton. You know, she looks even better in my mind. Clothing is optional."

"You know what you little bitch?" Randy started to say getting a little closer to John, who wasn't backing down. "I have nothing to worry about since she hates your guts as much as I do." Randy started to walk away until John said something which pissed him off.

"You know Hunter," John said glancing at the blonde man next to him, and talking a bit louder than he would have just so Randy could hear him. "I wonder what hair color mine and Red's kid will have. I mean, she has red, I have brown. I wonder how that would work out."

That's when Randy completely snapped and started to head towards John, getting in his face. "You little shit face. You ever go near her and I promise I will beat the shit out of you multiple times and then I'll kill you when I get bored of doing that."

"I can stay away, but I don't think she can. I don't think she'll be able to resist the Cena charm." He added the next part with a smirk. "Don't worry, I'll take her back to my house. I know you wouldn't want to hear her-" Before he could finish that statement, he felt a fist meet his jaw. He held his jaw for a bit with the smirk disappearing from his face. Randy looked like he was going to attack again, but Dave and Hunter both held him back before he could do anything else.

"Get the fuck off of me!" Randy screamed as he tried to get out of the other two's grasp. "I'm kill you you little bitch!"

"Yea, well I think I should return the favor." John was getting closer to him until he felt a shoulder on his hand.

"Orton! Cena! Cut it out!" Coach Flair yelled at the two when he along with Coach Michaels finally noticed the ruckus two of their players were causing. "Didn't we already talk to you two?"

"You two are on the same team! Learn how to act like it! You want to get be put on probation from the team?" Coach Michaels joined in on the admonishing of the two not even caring that some of the players who didn't leave the field yet were looking on and listening to everything. "Both of you could actually get a scholarship for college to play football, but fighting with teammates is big turn off!"

The two said nothing, simply sending glares to one another. Randy looked like he was planning how to kill John who was just planning on ways to get to Lita to mess with Randy even more.

Coach Flair suddenly had an idea pop into his head as he turned to look at his assistant coach. "You know what I just thought about? Why not add Cena to be caption along with Orton and Helmsely? Those two would have to work together and they both happen to be friends with Helmsely, they wouldn't do anything to jeopardize him, or would they? It's not like they'll be working alone with the team, they'll have Helmsley keep an eye on things and make sure we don't lose any easy games we should win just because of those two."

"That's not going to work out!" Randy protested with John doing the same.

"I ain't workin' with him! We'll go winless!"

"Unless you two want to completely get kicked off the team, something that can happen because this isn't the first time you two had a little scuffle on the field, I suggest you agree with us."

"Okay, but why do I have to be punished?" Hunter was friends with both John and Randy, but he just couldn't deal with the two of them together.

"You were voted to be one of the captains at the end of last season. Captain's have to deal with any little changes that may occur on the team, so deal with it." Coach Flair then turned his attention to Randy and John. "And you two, stay out of trouble or their will be consequences to deal with." With that said, he left along with Coach Michaels.

Randy threatened John one last time before he finally left the field and towards the locker room so he could leave and go home. "Just stay the hell away from my sister or else I'll make sure I break a bone next time."

John rolled his eyes but said nothing. He was about to leave as well until Hunter grabbed his arm and turned him around so they were facing one another. "What the hell is wrong with you? I know you don't like him, but that doesn't mean you can say whatever you want to him about his sister. You don't have a sister so I can understand why you don't know what is and isn't appropriate to say to a guy about his sister. Learn how to control your mouth."

John shrugged. "I was just messin' with him. Not my fault he can't take a joke."

"You two are infuriating." With that said, Hunter left.

John was about to leave once again until this time, Chris joined him. Chris wasn't on the football team, but he was on the soccer team and the football field wasn't too far away from the soccer field and he saw everything that happened, which made him laugh. "Dude, you're an idiot. I don't know what you said to Randy, but whatever it was was enough to piss him the hell off and clobber you."

"I'm aware of that." Both teens started to walk towards the locker room so they too could leave the school.

"What did you say to him?" John answered and told Chris what happened which caused Randy to punch him. "You really are an idiot. You do realize he'll tell her everything that happened and she'll definitely avoid you like the plague."

"Damn it. I didn't think about that."

"Clearly."

"Whatever. I will get as close to her as I can just to piss sissy boy off. That is worth way more than this bet."

Chris raised a brow as the two made it back to the gym and continued their way by heading down the stairs to the locker room. "So if you succeed, I don't owe you money?"

"Hell yea you do. Don't try to back out now."

"Wasn't planning on it."

John couldn't help but think that this was going to be much harder than he initially thought. But like he told Chris, it was all worth it as long as it pissed the hell out of Randy.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

John was walking through the hallways at school on his way to first period the next day when he noticed people kept staring at him. He was wondering why, but then he realized he had a nice visible bruise on his jaw which was what they were most likely staring at. They were probably trying to figure out what happened if they didn't know already. Some people who witnessed the scene had big mouths so it wouldn't surprise him if some knew about the little fight after football practice. His parents asked about it and he waved them off saying he hit his jaw during practice and it wasn't a big deal because it was a prety physical sport and stuff happens and they actually believed him. He started to think about whether or not Lita knew what happened yesterday. It was only a matter of time before he found out.

John finally made it into the classroom and noticed his partner wasn't sitting at their lab bench area, but her backpack was on the table. He didn't care where she was at so he went to the his side of the lab bench and started to take his books out.

It hadn't been long when he heard someone, presumably Lita, sit next to him.

"Hey Cena." He mumbled something in return and she couldn't quite figure it out because his head was turned the other way as he was looking through his backpack, but it wasn't like she cared so she didn't ask for clarification, rather opting to turn around so she could chat with Victoria before class began.

"Hey Red," he tried to get her attention after a little while. "Can I see your homework from last night? Just wanna compare answers."

Lita rolled her eyes while turning her attention from Victoria to John. "He only gave us the assignment to see what we remember and don't remember from bio. You probably didn't even-" She stopped herself when she caught sight of the bruise on his face. "Whoa. What happened to you?" He said nothing so she decided to continue. "Someone get tired of your bullshit and finally deck you? Who was it? Man, I'm kinda upset with myself that it wasn't me. Who beat me to it?"

He rolled his eyes at the look of amusement on her face. It looked as if Randy didn't tell her anything. He started to wonder why. Or maybe she was pretending and planning on payback or something when he least expected it for what he said to about her. "You really don't know?"

She looked genuinely confused. "No. Why would I? Unless it was..." She trailed off as realization began to set it and she sighed. "It was Randy." That was more of a statement than a question. "What did you do?"

He raised a brow. "And what makes you think I did somethin'?"

She was about to say something, but then the two heard Dave snort from behind them before he spoke. "Maybe because you did."

John glared at him. "No one asked you."

"Well, now I'm asking him since you don't want to tell me."

"It was nothing"

Lita ignored John and focused her attention to Dave. "Why did Randy hit him?"

"Because John here likes to run his mouth," Dave simply replied. He wasn't about to tell her right before the school day started for many reasons including that she would probably end up beating the crap out of her lab partner. Like John, he too wondered why Randy didn't tell her anything.

"I was joking."

Lita glanced between John and Dave a few times before she decided she didn't care and turned around to face straight forward once again. "Whatever. Don't tell me. I have decided that I don't care."

"So about that homework," John started to say when he too turned around.

"We still have a couple of minutes. Just write down you don't know anything because you most likely don't."

"So is that a no?"

She groaned in frustration as she took the assignment he was talking about out of her binder and slammed it on the table right in front of him. "This is the first and only time. I'm only giving it to you so I can have some peace and quiet before class starts. He wants to know what we already know and what we need to focus on more. Try not to copy everything." He took the paper and started to copy some of her answers. "You're welcome by the way."

"Whatever," he responded as he continued to copy off her homework.

He heard her mumble something about ungrateful assholes and how he was lucky she didn't just take the paper back from him. He rolled his eyes before he decided to give in. "Thanks."

"Whatever," she mimicked his earlier statement with a tone of annoyance. "I think your eyes should match your jaw. I'm gladly help you with that."

He didn't reply and finished up the last couple of questions. He was just giving her paper back when Mr. Regal decided to start class by going over the assignment first. Fortunately for John, the assignment wasn't going to be graded. They were just going to go over the questions and answers during class and he was just going to collect it as a reminder of what needed to be focused on more. Each unit they would be covering in class for the school year was covered in the assignment. When they finished going over a particular section, Mr. Regal asked if they had any questions. He gave basic answers and said it would be answered in detail when they covered that particular unit. John was quiet until they went over some genetic questions.

"Yes Mr. Cena?" Mr. Regal acknowledged the student who had his hand raised.

John glanced over at the redhead, who wasn't paying much attention, with a smirk on his face before he asked his question which was the same thing he asked Hunter the day before and made sure Randy had heard it. "Hypothetical situation. If I were to have kids with Red here one day," that grabbed her attention as her head snapped to look at him,"what hair color would they have since I have brown and she has red?"

That earned a couple of snickers from his classmates especially when they saw the look on Lita's face. He himself wasn't looking at Lita, but he knew she had a scowl present on her face and he was enjoying every minute of it.

"Well, we will get into that later," Mr. Regal started to explain, oblivious to why John was interested in asking that question, "but more than likely, they would have brown hair because that is the dominant gene over red which is the recessive gene. The dominant one almost always wins over. We will learn more about when the recessive gene wins over when we get to that unit." He paused and glanced at all the other students in the class." Any more questions?" No one said anything so he turned his attention back to the blackboard before introducing the next unit.

That's when John turned his attention back to Lita with a smirk present on his face. She continued to give him a death glare. He winked at her and let out a small laugh which resulted in her punching on his arm which caused those who witnessed the action, mainly Dave and Victoria since they were seated directly behind them, to chuckle.

He rubbed at the spot she hit him. "Bi-" he stopped when Mr. Regal turned back around to look at him, sending him a questionable look. "I was getting up to throw something in the trash and um, kinda banged my arm against the table," he lied.

The teacher said nothing, instead turning back to the chalkboard and continuing with the rest of the class which eventually led him to start with the first unit of the year, ecology, after they finished going over the assignment. The remainder of the class went pretty smoothly without any disruptions from John or Lita.

* * *

The rest of the school day passed by with John not bothering Lita like he usually did which surprised her. What she didn't know was that he had an ulterior motive which was obviously the bet. After he had some fun with asking that question in biology, he decided he should probably focus on the bet and tone down how he usually interacts with her. If she saw he was changing his ways towards her, maybe she would want to be friends and he could win the first part of the bet.

But that was all about to change during last period because he was not going to let the opportunity pass up on him to piss off Randy and this was the only class he had with Randy which luckily for him, also had Lita in it.

He entered the classroom and took his seat next to Lita who was busy talking to Edge. He saw Randy enter the room not long after and that's when he began his plan.

"I missed you today Red." He continued after she gave him her full attention, giving him that death glare he was so familiar with and used to seeing. "Sure we start and end the day together, but I miss you in between. I'm thinking we should start sitting at lunch together that way we get to spend some time in the middle of the day as well. Or maybe I could get transferred into your other classes as well."

Lita rolled her eyes, not noticing that Randy had sudden interest in the duo from his seat towards the back of the room. "What drugs are you on?"

"You."

Lita closed her eyes and started to count to three. It was something she did a lot of when dealing with him. She took a deep breath and then opened her eyes again before she spoke. "There is something deeply wrong with you. Why don't you ever leave me alone?"

"Hey, I just said I missed you. Nothing wrong in that."

She stared at him like he was crazy for a few moments and then looked straight ahead. "You look hot today." She had to bit her lip from saying something. "Are you gonna ignore me now?" He got his answer as she kept looking straight ahead and did just that. "Red, that's not nice." He turned around and saw Randy was shooting glares at him. He sent the younger twin a smirk and turned back around and looked towards the older twin. "Red." No answer, she was determined to keep ignoring him. Edge watched on in amusement. "Red." Again no answer so he decided to poke her. She jumped a bit in her chair but still said nothing as he continued poking her and calling her name.

Randy looked like he was about to get up and head towards the two, but he didn't have to when Lita finally snapped, having enough of him. "I am so close to breaking your finger." Her outburst was a little loud so it gained the duo the attention of the rest of their classmates as well as Coach Michaels who began to make his way to the two.

"Something wrong Miss. Orton?" He asked as he stood in front of the middle of their desks.

"Yes. He was touching me-"

"I thought you liked that kinda stuff," John interrupted her, which earned him a stern look from Coach Michaels and he was simply ignored by the redhead who decided to continue after his interruption.

"-and I don't know where his hands have been so I do not want him to touch me. Why do I have to be stuck sitting next to him?"

"Because this is where you chose to sit yesterday."

"Actually," she interrupted. "I did not choose to sit next to him. I would do no such thing. Never. I'd rather walk into traffic than have to sit next to him."

She was ignored as Coach Michaels continued. "There are going to be group presentation debates at the end of most of the units like we went over yesterday. I will be assigning the groups and the units today and they will be based on where you situated yourself in class yesterday."

"Oh no." Lita shook her head as it began to sit in. "Please don't tell me. Please do not make me stuck with him. Let me change now. Please. It's not like you assigned groups yet."

"I did, but I did not announce them yet. Just wait a few minutes." He then turned his attention back to John. "I believe we had a talk yesterday about you and Orton. That should also apply to you and Miss. Orton." John fought the urge to roll his eyes but simply nodded with Coach Michaels glancing between the two again before he went to the beginning of the room and started class.

There were 21 people in the class, so Coach Michaels split the class in four groups of four with one group of five. As luck would have it, John and Lita were put in one group along with Edge and Stephanie. At least she was friends with those two and they could possibly keep her from killing John. The topic they were assigned to was ethics which was the third unit they were going to cover and that was around the end of November, so they still had time before they had to work on that. He told them he would give them their specific question in the beginning of the unit and they would have to have the debate presentation either the day that unit ended or the day after unless he stated otherwise. The reason why he had them sitting with their groups for the whole school year was when there were to be class discussions, the groups were supposed to discuss within themselves before the class discussed as a whole. Lita was hating senior year more than she was the day before. John, on the other hand, thought it would work in his favor if they had to work in Philosophy together as well. He was determined to win the first part of the bet sooner rather than later because he thought the second part would definitely take more time and effort.

* * *

"You're running too fast," Christy yelled after her sister when they went running together later that night.

"I didn't tell you to come with me," came Lita's reply, but she didn't slow down at all.

"Please could you just stop for a moment? I need a little break." Christy plead with her as she herself, stopped running to catch her breath and drink some water before she started to walk towards Lita who actually did as she was asked.

"I didn't tell you to come with me. You're ruining my flow."

Christy rolled her eyes as she put her water bottle back in her belt carrier and began to walk alongside her sister. "What's with you? You have been pissed ever since your talk with Randy. What did he say?"

"He told me to tell you to mind your own business."

"Seriously, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Lita continued to avoid telling Christy the truth. "Can we just stop talking about that. It's just gonna make me even more pissed off than I already am."

"And why are you pissed off?" The younger redhead continued to press the issue.

Lita stopped in place with Christy doing the same. The two facing each other before the former spoke up. "Let it go."

"But-"

"Christy! Leave it! okay?" Christy decided to stay mum and not say anything. "Look, if you're tired, you can run back home because I'm going to continue. I'm not done yet. Or you can go at your own pace because this is not helping me."

"Helping you with what?" Lita scowled at her. "Okay, don't tell me. Just don't take your anger out on me."

Lita sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry. It's just... I'm sure you probably heard about it at school today. Randy punched John after practice yesterday."

"I did hear about that. I just don't know why. Did he tell you?"

Lita nodded. "He did. Basically that idiot said some stuff about me."

"Like what?"

"He was just being a pervert."

Christy said nothing and it was quiet for a moment as the two began to jog instead of walk. "He's cute." Lita simply rolled her eyes in response. "Can we go back now?" She asked after about five minutes of jogging in silence.

"You can," Lita replied. "Like I told you, I'm not done. And I rather run than jog."

"Alright. I'll see you at home."

"I'll run back home with you if you want."

Christy shook her head. "Nope it's okay."

"Okay. Be careful."

"You too." With that said, Christy turned so she could do as she said.

Lita had been running by herself for another half hour and was about a couple of minutes away from her house when she sensed there was a car driving right next to her. She didn't hear it at first because she had music blasting from her iPod. She only stopped in place when she heard the honk of a horn so she could see who was interrupting her. She took off her headphones and looked over to her left, ready to tell the person off. She immediately scowled when she saw a familiar red and black mustang.

"Is there a reason why you decided to disturb me?"

He shrugged, still sitting in his car, with his windows down so he could communicate with her. "I saw you and like I said, I missed you during the school day so obviously I was gonna miss you after school especially since it's Friday and I probably won't see you until Tuesday, labor day on Monday so no school and no Lita fix unless we cross paths at practice tomorrow."

"Lita fix? I am not a drug. And let's hope that doesn't happen because I rather not see you until I'm forced to." She began to jog once again, hoping John would get the hint, but no luck. He decided to drive next to her. "Oh my God! What do you want?!"

"It's late. You sure it's safe for you to run around here? There could be crazy pervs running around waiting for you."

Lita laughed humorlessly, stopping in place with John doing the same in his car. "Says the perv following me around."

"Hey, I'm just looking out for you."

"Right. By the way, I finally learned why Randy punched you yesterday. You deserved it. Maybe even more. Me? I'd kill you."

_Crap. _"I was just messing with him. Just a little joke."

"Well, mess with him some other way. Keep me out of whatever stupid shit you two have going on."

"You look extra hot when you're angry."

She rolled her eyes. "You never look hot."

John feigned hurt. "That was mean."

"Don't care. Now if you don't mind. I need to get going home now. Bye." She was about to start running again until he got out of his car.

"Wait." He was surprised when she actually did that.

"What do you want?"

"I could drop you off."

"No you can't. I'm running."

"Like I said, it's late. You shouldn't even be running this late."

"This is Towson, not the city-"

"Close enough."

"-I even run around Fed Hill sometimes. My parents don't care, so you shouldn't either. Plus, I'm almost there and I have pepper spray. Pepper spray that I should probably use on you."

He ignored her. "I think we should start over."

"What?"

"Well, we have to work together for two of our classes, so I thought we could try to get along and possibly be friends."

She laughed just like she did the day before when he suggested it first. "I would have to like you in order for us to be friends," she began to say when she sobered up. "That's not possible."

"Why don't you wanna be friends with me?"

"Because you're a jerk."

"You behave the same way with me. That's just how our relationship works."

"We don't have a relationship." She shook her head while she thought about what she was about to say. "Look, you're right. We should probably try not to argue all the time because we do have horrible luck and have to work together."

"So you'll try stop being a mean bitch all the time?"

She sent him a fake smile. "Only if you try and stop being a pain in the neck." He was about to say something, but she thought of something else. "And whatever crap is going on between you and Randy, you should just leave me out of it."

"So friends?"

She snorted. "No Cena. I said we could try getting along so I could still have my sanity while working with you. I said nothing about being friends."

"Maybe I'll change your mind."

"Probably not. Anyways, I'm gonna go now. Bye." She began to run again so she could get home with him looking after until she disappeared from his sight. This was going to be much harder than he thought, but at least they decided they would try and get along. And if that happened, then they could become friends. He was determined to win this bet if it was the last thing he did.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	4. Chapter 4

Hunter was so annoyed right now for multiple reasons. First of all, he was pissed off at Coach Flair and Coach Michaels for appointing John as another captain. He felt like he was a babysitter with all the petty arguing his fellow co-captains kept taking part in. Second, they had to be at practice on a Saturday. He liked football, he wouldn't be playing it if he didn't which is why he didn't mind practice all that much, except for the fact that the coaches tended to give majority of the power to the co-captains on Saturdays which meant they were staying out of the John and Randy arguments and basically forced him to deal with it. He was so close to bashing their heads together, but he knew that wouldn't do any good so he stopped himself. Third, and most importantly, his fellow co-captains couldn't stop arguing with one another. They kept fighting about every little thing. Whether it was John complaining that Randy showed up almost five minutes late or if it was Randy complaining how 'lazily' John was completing the defensive drills. And now, the two were currently fighting about John giving the offense some advice.

"You do not tell my offense what to do! In case you have forgotten, I take charge of the offense! The defense is your and Hunter's domain so get back to making them better, because you guys sure as hell need it!"

"Shut the hell up Orton!" John fought back. "I think I'm allowed to give some pointers to the offense!"

"You can give pointers to the offense when the defense shows us they aren't a sorry ass bunch like last season! Are you forgetting you idiots gave up 30 plus points in five games! You idiots are the ones that cost us the 'you win and you're in' game!"

"You should have scored more points!"

"Or maybe you should have given less! We scored 38 points! You idiots gave up that last minute field goal so don't even start with that!"

John stepped closer to Randy and it looked like another fight was about to break out between the two any second now. "You know what-"

"Okay," Hunter said getting in between them and making some space between the two. He finally had enough of them. Well, he had enough of them the minute their first argument started, but he was going to get in the middle of it now because he didn't want the two to get in another physical bout and it would have been more than one punch this time.

"That's enough. Randy, this is a team sport. We all work together," he said facing the quarterback before he turned his attention to his fellow linebacker, "John, he's right, you can't give the offense orders without consulting him first because he knows them better than either me or you."

Both teens looked like they were going to say something, but Hunter stopped them. "Shut up! We still have half an hour left. Let's try and make it peaceful. No more fighting or I probably will end up bashing your heads together. Not, probably, I most definitely will be doing that so just shut up."

Neither of the two said anything to him, other than sending a glare his way. Thankfully for all involved, there weren't more arguments that occurred during the last half hour of practice. Hunter successfully kept the two away from one another.

* * *

John was walking towards his car along with Jeff after practice ended. Basically every sport practiced on Saturday unless they had a game that day, but the games didn't start yet and were going to begin within the next couple of days so right now, every team practiced on Saturday. That included soccer, which was why Jeff was with him, and volleyball which was the reason why he saw Lita as well. He ignored what Jeff was talking about and started heading towards the redhead.

"So did you hear about the body they found in the harbor?" He asked from behind her which made her stop in place and turn around to face him. "Told you not to go running around by yourself at night."

"Oh bummer. I thought it was your body they found. I guess not. Now I'm upset again."

"Ha ha ha. Very funny."

"I thought so." Jeff quipped when he made it near the two, but he was ignored.

"I thought we were going to try getting along."

"We are, but oopsies," she said as innocently as she could, "that kinda just slipped."

"Well then I can let one remark slip too, right?"

Lita rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

He smirked, eyeing her up and down. "You should wear shorts more often, I like looking at your leg."

She scowled. "Perverts like you are the reason why I rather wear long pants." She turned her attention to Jeff. "I'll pick you up in an hour. Bye." She sent one last dirty look at John before she walked off to her car where Randy was waiting for her. He too sent John a dirty look which just made him laugh.

"Why is she picking you up in an hour?" John asked when the two were in his car.

"Because we both work at the same place," Jeff began to explain while turning on the radio, "and I don't have a car and she does."

John changed the radio station to his choice only for Jeff to change it back. "I'm taking you home, I could take you to work?"

"Yea, but we're going to the same place and I live like down the street from her so it's fine."

"You know, you're pretty close with someone who cheated on your brother."

Jeff rolled his eyes. "She didn't cheat on him."

John took the chance to glance at Jeff before he looked back at the road. "Yea she did."

"No she didn't. It was a rumor."

"Which she didn't deny."

"Because she wanted Matt to believe it was true."

Okay, now John was even more confused than before. "What are you talking about?"

"She wanted to break up with him before he went off to college because she didn't want to do the whole long distance thing and thought they would end up cheating on one another anyways so she started that rumor herself. Actually, I started it for her when she asked me for help."

"Why would you she do that? Why would you help her?"

Jeff shrugged. "He wouldn't take the breakup seriously when she broke up with him. I understood where she was coming from so I decided I would help her when she asked."

"That's why there was no name that came out to who she allegedly cheated on?" Jeff nodded. "Even though everyone automatically assumed it was either Edge or Christian."

"They're just friends. She has no interest in either of them."

John raised a brow. "And why do you know that?"

"She's my friend. We talk."

"So that means they won't get in the middle of my way for part two when I complete part one?"

"You mean 'if'. Big if." Jeff started laughing when he remembered what happened not too long ago in the school parking lot. "She looks at you in disgust. Even though you two are trying to get along, she doesn't seem to be interested. You're going to lose and I am going to enjoy seeing her keep turning you down. It's a wonderful thing."

"She will be soon. First step is to try and get along which seems to be-"

"-a fail," Jeff completed for him even though that wasn't what he was going to say.

"Do you wanna walk home?"

Jeff shrugged. "It's not a long walk from here. I don't mind."

"Whatever."

"Let's go back to the Matt thing for a second. Remember how Randy beat the crap out of him?" John nodded so Jeff continued. "Yea, that was because he started spreading rumors about Lita after the cheating rumor. You know you'll receive the same treatment if he finds out about your little bet with Chris."

"He's not going to. And don't let it slip in one of your 'friendly talks' with your 'friend'."

Jeff rolled his eyes. "Shut up."

The rest of the two minute car ride was spent in silence other than the sound coming from the radio. The silence was broken when John pulled over to the side of the road and parked the car. "Alright, get out."

"Thanks for the ride," Jeff said as he opened the car door to get out.

"Have fun at work with your 'friend.'" Jeff simply rolled his eyes and said nothing. But before he could leave completely and walk away... "Maybe you can talk me up to her or something. Make this easier on me."

"Hell no. I'm not telling her about it and I'm sure as hell not helping you with it."

"I'm your favorite cousin. The least you could do is help me out."

"Yea, not gonna happen. Bye."

* * *

"Oh my God Randy! Shut up!" Lita said for what felt like the billionth time in the past ten or so minutes when the two entered the house with Christy in tow who wisely chose to go up to her room and avoid the two at all cost. The car ride home from practice was basically hell and she didn't want to relive that again.

"Even after I told you what he said-"

She turned around so she was now facing him. "Shut up!" She interrupted him before he could finish his statement which she heard about a billion times. "For the billionth time, we're just trying to get along because all these stupid teachers think it's a great idea for me and him to work together. Just trying to keep my sanity in check. Plus I'm pretty sure I won't like prison if I up murdering him! Or you even! So stop talking!"

Randy decided to ignore her. "You really think that's possible when dealing with him?"

"Not really, but I'm going try if I want to graduate. Even though I don't need either class to graduate. Not the point. But right now, it's not possible dealing with you either. Leave me alone!"

"So what were you two talking about?"

She groaned. "Again, none of you damn business! You do realize you keep telling me to stay away from him is going to make me do the opposite to just piss you off. But don't feel special, I also have to prove my so-called friends wrong."

He rolled his eyes. "Nice Li, very nice."

"Shut up. I have work which I have to get ready for, so just shut up and leave me alone!"

"What is going on here?" Their mother, Karen asked when she emerged from another room after she heard her two elder children arguing.

"Nothing other than the fact that your son is acting like a jack-"

"Language! Watch what you say," Karen interrupted.

"Whatever. I have to get ready for work." With that said, Lita went off to her room to do as she said.

Karen was about to say something to her son but he too left to go to his own room. It wasn't long until she heard a slamming sound of two doors. She shook her head. It was too bad they both were equally stubborn and hotheaded and they probably wouldn't get over whatever it was they were fighting over any time soon.

* * *

"She just asked me to rate a Britney Spear's CD," Lita said when she walked over to Jeff who was putting some CDs on the shelves, "Do I look like I listen to that crap?" She began to help him with sorting the different CDs.

"Well you do work at a music store so she probably thought that you did."

"Ew," she said in disgust which made Jeff laugh "Never. Unless the sound of that crap is coming from Christy's room."

"So what did you say?"

"I said I would give it a one. And then I suggested she buy a 7 Seconds album because it will help with her taste in music."

Jeff chuckled. "See stuff like that is what almost got you fired not long ago."

"Whatever. She still brought the stupid CD. Didn't lose any sales."

"This time." That earned him a glare.

"That was a one time thing." He sent her a disbelieving look. "Okay it happened twice." The look didn't disappear from his face. "Okay five. It happened five times. I'm not going any higher than that. Not my fault some of these idiots have horrible taste in music."

"Which almost cost you your job."

"Who the hell cares? I'm not going to be working here the rest of my life. That's just sad. I mean, I guess it could work for some people, but no. Not me. I don't even want to work here now."

Jeff didn't say anything in response and the two continued to work on sorting the CDs in silent. That is until Lita came across one particular album. "Ew," she held it up and scrunched her nose in disgust. "Who listens to this crap?"

Jeff looked up to see what she was talking about: an Eminem album. "John. He actually makes me listen to it sometimes."

"I don't like him."

"Eminem or John?"

"Your dear cousin. He pisses me off. He's stupid."

"He's not that bad once you actually get to know him." Hold on, was he actually trying to change her opinion about the other teen? Maybe not intentionally. But it's not like it mattered, him just saying that John wasn't that bad wasn't really going to change her mind about him.

"Oh, I know him. He's nothing but an ignorant arrogant self-absorbed pompous-"

"Are you done?" He interrupted her.

"No. Wannabe, hotheaded-"

"You are too."

"Shut it. Where was I? Right, hotheaded egotistic jackass. Now I'm done." Jeff simply laughed at her. "Ugh, looks like another musically challenged idiot needs my help," she said referring to a young brunette that just entered the store. "By looking at her... whatever that thing is on her shirt, I'm thinking she's looking for a crappy album. Great, another headache."

She walked over to the customer so she could help her while Jeff went back to finishing his task. John was going to have a tough time with winning any of the three bets and Jeff was going to have fun seeing Lita turn him down. But what if she didn't? There was a small possibility that she could very well give into John. Jeff just hoped she wouldn't end up getting hurt in the process.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	5. Chapter 5

Christy couldn't help but laugh at her older siblings during dinner the following Monday night. The two found themselves in petty little arguments every time one of them said anything even if it didn't deal with the other ever since their fight on Saturday. They hadn't said anything to one another during dinner so far, but Lita kicked Randy under the table when she felt him stretching his legs which resulted in his feet accidentally hitting her. And then Randy kicked her back which began their little kicking war.

"Enough," their father, Bob, finally had enough. He, along with Karen, was trying to ignore the two hoping they would realize how childish they were acting. "It's hard to believe you two are graduating this year with the way you're acting right now."

"He started it," Lita said before Randy could.

"You kicked me first!" Randy retorted.

"Actually, you did!"

"By accident!"

Lita was about to say something back to him but was stopped by their mom. "Stop. Can we just enjoy our family time together? Tonight is the rare moments when we all are actually together. No work, no practice, nothing. Let's just enjoy each other's company."

"Whatever," both twins said in unison with silence following soon after, everyone continuing to eat in peace.

"How's school?" Bob asked after a couple of minutes.

"Boring, but at least there's football," was Randy's reply with Lita having a similar one. "Annoying. I think all my teachers hate me." But Christy's response on the other hand was quite different which earned her similar looks from her siblings, "Awesome!"

"What?" Christy asked the two. "I like high school."

"When's the first game?" Karen asked.

"Tomorrow actually."

Randy rolled his eyes. "I think she was asking me. No one cares about volleyball."

"Yes because every one likes watching a bunch of boys tackling one another for a stupid ball."

"How many people go to the volleyball games and how many go to football games?"

"You guys suck. We actually know how to win games to make it past the regular season and-"

"And you lost the first game so it's kind of like you didn't."

Lita kicked him from underneath the table once again. "Shut up." She glanced at both her parents before speaking. "May I be excused?" She didn't wait for an answer as she got up from the table and went to her room. It didn't take long for Randy to do the same. Soon enough, there were two separate sounds of doors slamming.

Christy couldn't help it anymore and burst into laughter once again. Her siblings never failed to entertain her. She looked up at her parents and realized they were giving her a stern look which resulted in her to stop laughing. "What? It's funny."

Karen sighed. "Do you know what they're fighting about now?"

Christy shrugged. "Not really. But I think it has something to do with how Randy was trying to tell her what not to do and that pissed her off and it just escalated from there. I find it hilarious."

Lita was finishing up some last minute homework before she heard the door knock an hour after the little fight at dinner.

"What?" She asked not looking up from her books. The door opened soon after and she looked up and groaned when she saw who it was. She looked back down at the book in her hands. "I really don't feel like fighting right now Randal, so just save it."

He sighed, walking further into her room and sitting down on her bed. He could tell she wasn't paying attention to the book anymore so he took it away from her so she would stop being stubborn and listen to him.

"What's you problem?" Lita asked sending a glare her twins way after he removed the book from her hands.

"I'm sorry," he finally said after a moment of silence.

She was speechless. Was he actually apologizing to her? That was a first. They always had stupid little fights but they never really apologized to one another, it was a something the other always knew, but they never expressed it. "For what?"

"Everything I've said to you the past couple of days. Our stupid little arguments."

"I don't care about that. If we're really going to start apologizing for our little fights then we're going to be doing that a whole lot." She sighed. "Just stop telling me what to do. It's none of your business who I talk to."

Randy had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. "It's not, but John's an asshole."

"I know," she interrupted him.

"I know you said you're only dealing with him for school," he continued after her little interruption, "but I don't trust him. I don't know what he's up to. For some reason, I think he has another motive for wanting to be your friend or whatever he's trying to do. I don't trust him."

Lita sighed, looking away to think about it for a moment before she looked back at him. "I don't know if he has an ulterior motive, but I don't care. If he's just messing with me for some reason, I will not hesitate to kick his ass. We can even do a double team on him." That earned a chuckle and nod from her brother. "Look, we're not even friends. We're just trying to get along so we can graduate and not kill up one another and end up in jail in the process."

"Still don't trust him."

"What's up with you two? You used to be such good friends until like right before high school."

"Nothing."

"Clearly," she replied sarcastically. "Seriously, what happened?'

"Nothing," he repeated once again getting up from the bed and making his way to the door so he could leave. He stopped and turned around to face her before he could leave. "I guess we both realized how much of a jerk the other is."

"You just admitted you're a jerk."

He shrugged. "I guess so." With that said, he left.

She didn't really expect a real reason from him. For some reason, he never told the truth, he always said 'nothing' whenever she or anyone else asked what happened. She wondered if John would tell her the truth if she asked him. Probably not. She decided she didn't really care and it was probably just somethin stupid, she was just curious, so she went back to finishing up her homework.

* * *

John groaned in frustration as he stared blankly at the assignment in front of his face. It was a difficult assignment which would have been much easier had he read the first chapter in the biology book. He read the first page and then realized he wasn't really processing the information so he repeated the process a couple of more times and the information still flew over his head. It was a pretty boring page and he thought the rest of the chapter was going to be equally as boring since it was an introduction to the chapter. Why did he even have to read it in the first place? It wasn't like Mr. Regal wasn't going to go over the crap written in the book tomorrow. Oh right, he had complete the assignment for a grade. Yup, that's why he had to read it. He tried skimming through the book to find some answers which only helped with half of the questions. He tried finding the rest of the answers through Google which was successful but there were a couple that Google was not nice enough to provide him with. There were still three answers which required a little bit of explaining that he still had to complete.

He looked over to the clock in the room noticing it was nearly midnight. Well, he only had himself to blame for this. After all, he did just start his homework at eight on a Monday night when it was a three day weekend because of labor day. He had three days to get this stuff done, but procrastination got the best of him. _Senioritis hits already, _he thought as he was about to just give up and bother his favorite redhead the next day before class. But if he remembered anything from his class during freshmen year, it was that Mr. Regal usually collected the homework first thing when class started and since bio was the first class of the day, that probably wouldn't work out.

Well, there wasn't much else he could do so he decided he would just put his book and assignment away and settle with a seven out of ten and not procrastinate much next time. But then, something came to mind. He could just call Lita and ask her for some help. After all, she was his lab partner so she shouldn't have much problem helping him. Yea right, even he didn't believe that himself. Well, there was no harm in trying. But what if she was sleeping and he woke her up? She would probably cuss him out. Oh well, that was a risk he was willing to take.

He went through his contacts and pressed call when he got to 'psychotic bitch' in his contact list. He got her number when Jeff oh so conveniently left his phone lying around earlier that day. He asked his cousin for his lab partner's phone number, but Jeff wasn't giving it to him saying that Lita wouldn't appreciate him giving his number to people especially John. And when he noticed Jeff left his phone lying around when he left the room, he took it and sent a text message to his own phone with her phone number. He wisely remembered to delete the text from Jeff's phone so he wouldn't notice what he did.

"Hello?" Lita finally answered the phone after a couple of rings. She didn't sound like she was sleeping so at least when she yelled at him for calling him this late he could point out the fact that she wasn't already sleeping.

"Hey Red," he replied with a smirk on his face, he could just imagine the look on her face when she realized it was him calling.

She scowled once she registered who was on the other end. "What do you want? Do you know what time it is? This is no time to be calling anyone. Especially someone who never gave you her number. How the hell do you even have my number?"

He ignored her. "Did I disturb you babe?"

She could sense the smirk on his face which made her want to walk a couple of blocks to his house and slap it off of him. "Don't call me that. What do you want?" She spoke up again when she thought of something else before he had a chance to reply. "Where did you get my number from? I never gave it to you."

"Phone book."

"Right. Because I listed my cellphone in the Yellow Pages. I want a real answer."

"Don't worry about it."

He could hear her counting to three so he knew she was about to give in. "You know what? It is midnight. I don't want to deal with your bullshit right now. What is that you want?"

He looked at the sheet of paper in front of him to make sure he had the correct questions before he told her. "Answers 3, 7 and 8."

"For the bio homework?"

He nodded, but then realized she couldn't see him. "Yup. You're a smart one."

"I wish I could say that about you because then you wouldn't be calling me at midnight."

He ignored her yet again. "So the answers?"

She knew how he was going to respond her question before she even asked it, but she still did it anyways. "Did you read the book?"

"Sort of."

"Define 'sort of.'"

"I read the first page multiple times."

She said nothing for a moment which made him think she hung up on him, but then she broke her silence. "Well, read the book and you'll get the answer to those questions."

"Na, it's easier for you to tell me."

She sighed. "Okay. Hold on." He smiled, he was about to get his answers just like that. "Alright," she continued after two minutes of silence. "The answer to question 3 is on page 7. The answer to question 7 is on page 19 and the answer to question 8 is on page 21 and 22. Have fun."

"So you're not gonna to tell me the answer?"

"I just helped you. You just have to read those pages and you'll get your answer. You're welcome by the way."

He rolled his eyes. "Yea, whatever. Thanks."

"You're so ungrateful. Horrible night. I hope you have nightmares." With that said, she hung up the phone.

At least she kind of did help him. She didn't straight out give him the answers but she still did give him the pages the answers were on. It took him another half hour to read the pages and complete the rest of the questions before he could finally call it a night.

* * *

"I could have sworn I told you to wear shorts," John said as he sat down next to his lab partner the next afternoon at school.

Lita groaned as she looked over at him. She didn't understand what his problem was. He didn't say anything stupid to her the whole day up until now. She thought today was going to be different ever since they kind of sort of called truce. Apparently she was wrong. "And I could have sworn I told my henchmen to make sure it was your body they ambushed and threw in the harbor. But it wasn't. Look at that, neither of us got our demands."

"Are you a bitch to everyone or am I just that lucky?" He knew he shouldn't have said that and it would just piss her off, but damn, she could be mean sometimes.

"Are you a pervert to everyone or am I just that unlucky?"

"I asked you first."

"Don't care," she shook her head as she looked away from him. "Really, I don't."

"See, there you go being a bitch again."

She rolled her eyes. "You really think I care what people like you think about me?"

He raised a brow. "People like me? And what exactly are 'people like me'?"

She looked up at him before she answered his question. "Annoying, idiot, arrogant, ignorant, self absorbed, jerk."

Coach Michaels was about to start class, but the two students squabble wouldn't allow him to. "It's time to start class. Cena, Miss. Orton, you two can continue whatever you are discussing after class." Unfortunately for him, he went ignored.

"Who pissed in your cornflakes this morning? Oh I get it, it's that time of month isn't it?"

"Just shut up! I think there's a body of water waiting for you to drown in."

"And I think- no, scratch that- I know my bed is waiting for you." Fortunately for him, Randy was a little late to class for some reason and wasn't there to hear that. A fight probably would have broken out if he was there.

Her nose scrunched in disgust. "You repulse me. Pig."

"Stuck up."

"Jerk."

"Stubborn."

"Asshole."

"Psycho."

"Wannabe."

"Slut."

"Detention!" Coach Michaels exclaimed which caused the two to stop their little petty fighting. "Both of you. Today right after class ends."

"What?! What for?! That's not fair!" They both began to protest at the same time.

"What for? Did you two really just ask me that. For disrupting class. We can make it today and tomorrow if you like."

"I hate you," Lita scowled turning to look at John.

"Oh yea, that hurts cuz I love you so damn much," John quipped sarcastically.

"Alright, you asked for it. Detention today and tomorrow." The two groaned. "Another word and we can make it for the rest of the week."

"Spending the week with her after school, no thank you."

"Yes," Lita agreed. "I rather break every bone in my body."

"Okay, you got your wish. Detention for the whole week."

"You cannot be serious."

"Do you want more? That can be arranged," the teacher threatened to which the two just stayed quiet and he begun class a moment later.

* * *

"I have a game I should be prepping for, but instead, I get detention all thanks to you and your stupid mouth," Lita said when she entered the room for detention and saw John was already there.

"You're gonna lose anyways so it doesn't matter how much you prepare."

"No," Lita said as she took a seat as far away as possible from the other teen, "that's the football team that's going to lose on Friday. We actually know how to win."

"Bitch," he muttered under his breath which didn't go unheard from her.

"Go to hell."

"I guess I'll see you there."

"I heard about your little argument in class today," Mr. Bischoff, who was the vice-principal also in charge of detention, interrupted the two before it could escalate any further. "Causing disruptions in detention leads to detention for the whole week but since you two already got yourself that much, I have a better idea: detention for the rest of the month."

"We didn't disrupt anything," Lita began to protest but was cut off by the vice-principal.

"It was quiet before you came in here, so yes, you did disrupt something. Not a word from either of you unless you want to add Saturdays for the whole month as well."

Both teens had to bite their tongues from saying anything else. They never liked Mr. Bischoff, or Mr. Bitchoff like most of the students liked to call him. The rest of the hour went by pretty slow, but at least it was peaceful and there was no additional fighting.

"Wait up Red," John said walking after Lita after detention ended. He knew he had to do something to fix what happened earlier that day if he was going to be successful in the bet and prove to Chris that he could indeed get anyone to like him. He did think their predicament was her fault because she overreacted to his comment, but if he was going to win, then it was up to him to fix this.

She did no such thing as she continued to walk out of the classroom and what he presumed was towards the girls locker room. "What do you want?"

"I would like to apologize for the comments I made today before class.' Lita rolled her eyes, she wasn't buying it. "We agreed we would try to get along, but that hasn't been going so well so far. And I really don't want to spend an hour every day with Bitchoff for the rest of the school year."

"Me neither. He's a creep."

He nodded. "I thought that much. So I was thinkin' maybe we can just stop our little fights and just get along so we don't have to spend the whole school year in detention."

She stopped to face him when they arrived to her destination. "Will you stop being annoying?"

"Will you stop being an evil bitch?" He countered.

"I can try because I am so sick and tired of getting into it with you every time I see you. It's getting old and annoying."

"I agree which is why I can try as well."

"Great. I gotta go. I already lost over prep time with my teammates and it's the first game and I don't want to lose it. See you later."

"Good luck." That shocked her, but maybe it shouldn't have since their truce not long ago. And then she did something that shocked him more.

She smiled at him. "Thanks. See you later" She turned around and opened the doors to the girls locker room so she could enter.

John sighed in relief. He was happy that was solved. Now all he had to do was control his mouth and hope she wouldn't say anything to annoy him as well and he was on his way to completing 'Operation Become Friends With the Redheaded Devil.'

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews****. Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	6. Chapter 6

The rest of the week passed by pretty smoothly as it could for the two teens who recently called it truce. They still got into petty little arguments, but nothing too big. None of their fighting resulted in them getting more detention than they already had. John was hoping to use detention as a way for Lita to get to know him better so she would finally see him as a friend, but they didn't talk much to each other with her opting to use the hour to do some homework. Lita still wouldn't call John a friend so he still had to work towards being acknowledged as a friend by her so he could complete the first part of the bet and move on to the second part. But that was okay for him since they still had another three weeks of detention.

John made it a habit to call Lita when he was having trouble with his homework even if it was for a class he didn't have with her which was every night that week. She usually talked him through a problem so she wasn't doing it all for him and figured out the fact that he wasn't dumb, just a little on the lazy side which pissed her off at times because he took some time away from her homework time when she helped him, especially when she didn't have the same class so it's not like it was benefiting her in any way. They usually ended the phone call with her yelling at him for wasting her time and that she wasn't going to help him next time if it wasn't a real question and if it was just him being a lazy bum, but she usually helped him the next night when he called.

It was Friday which meant it was the first football game of the season. Towson was down by ten in the middle of the second quarter which resulted with two of its players to get into an argument on the sidelines.

"Do you even know what the defense is supposed to do?!" Randy yelled at John. "They're supposed to prevent points! We're not supposed to lose to the losers like Owings Mills!"

"Do you even know what the offense is supposed to do?!" John retorted. He was not about to back down. "Score points! If you scored then it wouldn't matter that we let them get in front of us by ten points!"

"That doesn't make any sense you idiot! We're actually scoring! You don't even know how to tackle! You should probably learn that first!"

"Maybe I should practice on you!" John exclaimed as he got closer to Randy who wasn't going to back down as well.

"Stop!" The two turned their attention to Hunter who was right behind them listening to their argument. "If you two keep this up, then we are going to lose today. And that will be both of your faults. You both are supposed to be Co-captains. You're supposed to pump up the team and give them a pep talk. Not fight among yourselves."

The two said nothing for a moment and Hunter thought it was a victory for them, but then Randy just had to open his mouth. "Hey John, how about Hunter teaches you how to tackle? Because he actually knows how to do that!"

"And how about to get some throwing lesson!"

"I'm not the problem! You are!"

"Do not kill them," Hunter began to say to himself when he realized they weren't going to shut up any time soon. "You do not want to go to jail. Murder is bad, not good. Even though right now it seems like a really good option." He shook his head. "Nope. No murder. No jail."

Lita and Stephanie were laughing at what was going on the field from their spots on the stadium seats.

"I'm so happy I decided to come to the game with you today," Stephanie said to Lita through her laughter.

Lita nodded in agreement. "Me too."

"Who are the two who look like they're about to get in a fight?" Karen asked to no one in particular.

Lita rolled her eyes and answered her mom's question after she was able to calm down from the laughing. "Your son" she looked at the two in front of them as she said the next words, "and your son. You should know that by now because it was like this almost every game last year."

"Why are they always fighting?" Carol asked.

"John hates Randy. Randy hates John. It's not hard to dislike John. I mean, he's such an-" Lita stopped when Stephanie nudged her.

"You almost told his parents how much you don't like their son," the brunette whispered so only the redhead could hear her. "That might not be a good idea."

Lita rolled her eyes. "Whatever. You know how annoying John is." She said that aloud and didn't really care at the moment that both of his parents could hear her talking about their son. "Him and Randy always get into stupid fights like this. I'm sure this is just another stupid argument. At least one of them isn't punching the other this time."

"This time?" Karen asked confused and surprised. Yes, Lita said John and Randy had gotten into many verbal fights before, but she never seen nor heard of any physical fighting between the two other than one incident during one of the games last year.

Stephanie shrugged while the two teens ignored Karen unintentionally. "Maybe there's no fighting because John didn't say anything about you this time."

"Excuse me?" This time it was Carol who spoke up confused. But just like Karen, she too was ignored.

Lita rolled her eyes once again. "I would punch him if he says something stupid about me again."

"I really thought you were going to in Philosophy the other day. Good thing Randy wasn't there. There would have been bloodshed. And you punching John would have gotten suspended instead of detention. Even though, for you, being suspended for three days would be better than getting detention a whole month with him."

"Detention for a whole month?" Karen asked equally as confused as she was from the beginning of the conversation.

"Him as in John?" Carol asked just as confused as Karen.

"He's not that bad," Lita said as the two continued to ignore the two women unintentionally. They were in their own little world and didn't realize there were people around them. "I mean, I still can't stand him, but..." she shrugged. "I don't know, he's not that bad."

"Yea but-" Stephanie began to say something but was interrupted by Karen and the two finally noticed the two women who were intently listening to their conversation.

"Lita, you have detention for a whole month?"

"With John?" Carol asked. "And Randy and John were involved in a physical fight?"

Lita and Stephanie glanced at one another when they realized they said too much. "Oh my God Steph," Lita began to say. "How uncool are we watching this game with my parents. Look, there's Edge and Christian. Maybe they can help you understand football better because I'm clearly not helping you any."

Both got up in a hurry and went over to their friends. "We will talk about this when we get home young lady," Karen called after Lita who cringed when she heard the term 'young lady' because her mom almost always used that term when she was upset with her.

"I cannot believe you just told my mom about my detention issue," Lita said when the two finally made it over to Edge and Christian. Luckily for them, there were two empty seats near them and they didn't have to move to another empty part of the stadium.

"Sorry, it kind of slipped," Stephanie replied as she took a seat next to Lita. "But you did kind of tell her, and let's not forget John's mom, about Randy's physical altercation with John."

Lita sighed. "I know. Randy is going to be pissed. It was a mistake."

Stephanie nodded. "As was my slip up."

"Get your dad to expel John so I don't have to deal with him. Sure he's getting easier to deal with, but he's still a pain which is saying a lot since I just said he's getting easier to deal with."

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "My dad isn't going to expel John just because you don't like him."

"Then you just tell him that John keeps bugging you and then-"

"Stop," Stephanie interrupted her. "That's not going to happen."

"What are you two talking about?" Edge asked.

"Dumb and dumber," Lita gestured on the field where John and Randy got into yet another argument after the offense cut the deficit from ten to three but the defense let the other team get another seven points.

"Looks like it's half time," Christian spoke up for the first time since the two girls joined him and Edge as he looked on the field. "Who knows, maybe we'll witness a real fight during that time."

Both Coach Flair and Coach Michaels used half time as a way to admonish Randy and John for their arguing ways and told them to stop being selfish. They said it was a team sport and not one person is at fault for how they were playing so far. They all needed to play better and it was only half time, they still had time to do better and win. Just like Hunter said, they were both co-captains, so instead of arguing with one another they should be giving the team a pep talk. The two were then threatened with being benched the rest of the game if they didn't stop arguing which actually worked for the most part.

* * *

Lita stood outside her car with Trish and Christy while waiting for Randy to show up so they could go home after dropping the blonde off.

"So how did you like cheering your first game?" Trish asked Christy who did make it on the cheerleading squad along with Maria.

"It was fun!" Christy began to gush. "Is cheering at basketball games just as fun?"

"Well, I like both. You'll find out in a few months. Cheer competitions are the best though."

"Yea, just wait until both Stacy and Trish argue about what the routine should be," Lita interjected. "Cheer fight. They'll throw pom poms at one another. That sounds like fun too."

Trish rolled her eyes. "Shut up. I'm willing to work with her and I'm sure she'll be willing to work with me too because this is the last time the both of us have a chance to win."

"Yea, we'll see about that."

Whatever Trish was about to say was interrupted when John walked up to the three. "Hey Trish, little red," he smirked before continuing, "big red."

"What did you just call me?"

"Big red. Maybe I should start calling you Clifford, like Clifford the big red dog"

"And maybe I should punch you if you do that."

"I thought you two called truce?" Trish spoke up.

"Trust me blondie. If there wasn't a truce, then I would have punched him once I heard the words 'big red' coming out of his mouth."

"Of course you would," Trish muttered under her breath.

Lita ignored her as she turned her attention to John. "I'm surprised you guys were able to pull it together. Two minutes left, five points down, didn't think it was possible for you guys to win especially not with all that fighting you and Randy were engaged in."

"Well we wouldn't have won if it weren't for me and the rest of the offense," Randy spoke up when he joined them. "Defense is what got us in a hole in the first place. We should have demolished those losers."

"You know what Orton-" John began to say but was interrupted by Lita.

"No no no no no. Shut up." Lita glanced between the two boys. "Both of you. None of us," she gestured between herself, Trish, and Christy, "want to witness you two idiots arguing yet again."

"Whatever," Randy said as he took the keys from his twins hands, "I'm going to the car. I'll wait for you to finish your conversation with your new friend." Randy sent one last glare to John before he got in the car along with Christy.

"He's such an asshole," John said when Randy and Christy disappeared inside the car.

"So are you." Lita piped up. "Anyways, good game. So we're going to-"

"You too," he interrupted her, continuing after the confused look she gave him. "I saw the ending of the game yesterday. The team did good."

"We lost," Lita reminded him.

He shrugged. "Yes, but it was still a good game. And you're actually good. That was a mean spike-"

"Hi John!" Stacy exclaimed before he could continue. Trish and Lita exchanged a glance with one another before looking at the intruder in annoyance. "You were awesome out there! I knew you guys would win!"

"Yea, thanks," John glanced at her for a brief second before returning his attention back to Lita. "Like I was saying, that was-"

"Don't you want to tell me how great I was?" Stacy asked, twirling a strand of her hair while she interrupted him once again. Lita and Trish glanced at one another again, trying not to laugh at how desperate for John's attention Stacy was.

"I wasn't paying attention. I was too busy paying attention to the game when I wasn't on the field."

"Well, I was great."

"You know Li," Trish began to say, "I thought Christy and Maria did great."

"So do I," Lita replied. "And you were the best Trishy."

Stacy rolled her eyes at the two as she looked at Lita. "You know Lita, you did great too. You know, when you lost yesterday. My favorite part was when the ball hit you in the head. How I wish I was on the other team and I could have done that to you."

"Oh sweetie. I don't think even you would be dumb enough to do that. I still owe you for the locker makeover," she said referring how Stacy and her minions spray painted a couple of choice words over her locker a couple of times last year.

"Whatever." Stacy then turned her attention back to John. "I forgive you this time, but you better pay attention next time. Bye." She winked at him before walking off. That was when Trish and Lita couldn't hold it in anymore and exploded into laughter.

"How pathetic," Trish said through laughter.

"It's so funny," Lita added. "She so wants you but you keep ignoring her and it's just funny."

"You jealous big Red?"

"I told you not to call me that," she said while she lightly punched him on his arm. "We have to go now. Bye bye."

"You ignored the question."

She shook her head. "Nope, I don't think I did because there was none."

"You jealous?"

"Of what? Of you trying to ignore Stacy? Hell yes."

He rolled his eyes. "That's not what I meant."

"Don't care. Bye."

"See ya later," he replied as the two girls got into the car, with him soon walking away to his own

"Two things I predict are going to happen by the time the school year ends," Trish began to say when the two sat in the back of the car.

Lita arched a brow. "And what is that Stratus?"

Trish rolled her eyes. "I was getting there before you interrupted me. Anyways, the first thing is you and John will totally get together one way or another."

Lita scrunched her nose in disgust. "Never."

"Ugh," Randy said in disgust from the driver's seat. "Don't say that. I just puked in my mouth."

Trish ignored the two as she continued. "So neither of us is going to win the bet," she said referring to the bet between herself, Edge, and Christian. "And that's okay. At least I'm not going to lost one hundred bucks. But then again, I won't be winning two hundred bucks." She paused for a brief moment before she continued. "The second thing is you and Stacy are going to get in a fight. I cannot wait to see that. It's a long time coming. Everyone knows it was her, Torrie, and Candice who defaced your locker both times last year. I really hope you break her nose."

"First of all, the first thing is never going to happen and the second thing," she shrugged, "who knows about that. I won't be surprised if it does, but don't count on it. I don't waste my time with bimbos like her."

* * *

John got home about ten minutes later and was met by the sight of both of his parents waiting for him on the couch in the living room. They both looked disappointed and that confused him, until his mother spoke up.

"Detention for a whole month? Fighting with Randy? What is going on with you?"

_Uh-oh. How did they find out about this? _"It was a joke. Randy took it too seriously. It's not my fault he can't handle a joke. Plus, he's the one who hit me, I didn't hit him."

"That doesn't explain the detention for a month," his father spoke up.

"It kind of does. Same thing with Lita. None of those two can take a joke. Seems like there's no humor gene for the Ortons."

"So what were the jokes?" Carol asked.

"Um... I don't remember," John lied. "It was just something stupid. I don't remember."

Neither of his parents believed him, but didn't say anything about it because it's not like it was going to change anything now. "You're grounded for two weeks. One week for fighting with Randy even if you didn't hit him. Another week for getting in trouble at school and getting yourself detention." John looked like he was about to protest but Carol continued. "It would be wise of you to not argue with me because we can make it longer. Two weeks without your phone."

"I need my phone," John interrupted her. "In case of emergencies."

His father nodded. "You're right. You do need your phone in case of emergencies which is why you will only have it when you go to school and work. We trust you not to use it during school or work time. You will give it to one of us when you get back home. All you will be seeing for the next two weeks is school and work."

"You come straight home after practice," Carol continued. "No phone, no computer unless you need it for school for which we will need proof of it. No tv, no video games-"

"Basically no fun and no type of entertainment for two weeks?" John interrupted to which both his parents nodded. "What if I need to talk to someone about homework help?"

"Then you can call them from the house phone. You have five minutes to write down anyone's number you may need for school help."

"Okay. With that said, John went upstairs to his room so he could do as he needed. He decided to send a quick text to a certain someone.

Lita looked at her phone when she heard it go off as she entered the house with her siblings. She forgot all about her and Stephanie's slip ups at the game until she read the text John just sent her. _Do you know how my parents found out about me and Randy fighting and me and you getting detention? _was what she read on the her phone. _Honest mistake. Sorry_, she responded. She just pressed 'send' when she felt someone take it from her.

"Randy, we'll be taking your phone too." Karen said before she went into basically the same conversation Randy had with his parents. Lita was grounded for one week while Randy was grounded for two weeks since he did punch John. "You and John used to be such good friend," she began to say to Randy. "What happened?" He said nothing so she decided to ask Lita basically the same thing. "And you, I don't see why you can't get along with him."

"If neither of us can get along with John," Lita began to say, "then obviously he's the problem. Not us."

"This is the same John you used to-"

"Mom!" Lita interrupted before she could get any further, pulling her mom a little further away from Randy, Bob, and Christy who all looked confused but said nothing. "You promised you would never bring that up," she whispered so no one else could hear her.

"I know. I'm sorry. It almost slipped."

"There's been a lot of that happening today," Lita muttered under her breath. "I'm sorry about what happened at school but don't worry. It won't happen again because John and I agreed to try to get along and it's been working out so far this past two or three days. He promised not to say stupid things to me which won't make me angry at him and say things back in return."

"What about Randy?"

"Not my problem. You and dad talk to him about that."

The two went back to the other three who still looked confused as to what just happened. Lita muttered a sorry to Randy before her and Christy went to their separate rooms and he and their parents had a conversation about his problems with John.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)**

**Don't expect a random John/Randy hook up cuz that ain't gonna happen. I don't write slash.**


	7. Chapter 7

"What's wrong?" John asked Lita who was rubbing her forehead the following Wednesday during detention. It was half way over and they had another half hour or so to go before it ended. She hadn't done any homework so far today, she just had her head down on the desk until a little while ago when she started to rub at her head. He was hoping she was up for talking because the time would go by faster and more importantly, it would give them a chance to get to know one another better and possibly help him with part one of the bet. They weren't supposed to talk, but it wasn't like that mattered to him. After all, Mr. Bischoff wasn't in the room to stop them from communicating in the first place. The vice principal waited until everyone got in the classroom for detention and then he left, popping in every now and then to make sure everyone was still there.

"Does my head have a target on it?" Lita rhetorically asked as she continued to rub her forehead. "That girl from Loch Raven hit me in the head on Thursday and I know that was an accident, it happens sometimes. But this bitch did it on purpose yesterday during the game and it was really hard. That Milford team is full with bitches. What a bunch of sore losers. It's not my fault they suck and we demolished them."

"I heard it kind of was," John replied earning himself a glare from the other teen. "I mean, I heard you were the one who kept scoring point after point with all those mean spikes you always hit."

"She's lucky Coach Runnels pulled me out of the game otherwise I would have returned the favor and broken her nose. Hell, I wanted to do that with my fists but Vicky had to drag me away."

John shuddered at the thought of her doing that to him. "You're a very violent person. Remind me to never piss you off."

Lita rolled her eyes as she finally removed her hands from her head. "You shouldn't need a reminder. Anyways, my head still hurts like hell. It's like on and off pain. Thankfully it wasn't this bad during classes, but it was really bothering me during last period, not so much right now, but it's still there. I wish I could just go home now. Coach told me to take the rest of the week off from practice because that bitch got me good but I'm so at the game tomorrow. Can't play, but I need to watch."

"Did you take any medicine?"

"Yea, it's kicking in which is why it doesn't hurt as much right now."

"Well that's good." Lita simply nodded in agreement. "So how pissed was Randy when I called the other day?" He asked with a smirk present on his face which made Lita roll her eyes. "He sounded pissed when he answered the phone and heard me on the other line."

"Yea, he asked me why you had our house number. I told him because my phone was taken away and you need homework help because you're stupid. Well, lazy. Or maybe it's a combination of the two." John simply rolled his eyes at her as she continued. "He asked why I'm always helping you with your homework and don't help him which is a stupid thing to say because I do help when he asks. You just bug me more way more."

"But the difference is you like it when I bug you."

Lita snorted. "Keep telling yourself that."

"You know you love me Red."

"I barely like you Cena. Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

The smirk reappeared on John's face. "So it's a future possibility?"

"It's as possible as us ever seeing pigs flying."

"I take that as a yes." John shrugged at the look the other teen was giving him like he was crazy. "It could happen. You never know."

Lita shook her head. "Just shut up."

"No really, it could happen. Crazy things happen all the time."

"Yes, like us talking and you not be a total jerk?" Lita asked innocently.

John rolled his eyes and had to bite his tongue from saying similar could be said of her. "Yea yea. You know you can't resist this."

"Keep dreaming."

John winked. "How about we make it a reality."

Lita groaned before looking away from him. "Don't kill him, he'll just come back as a ghost and haunt you and become an even more pain than he already is," she said which made John burst into laughter. She looked back at John and glared. "I can easily change my mind."

John shook his head. "You won't, you'll miss me too much."

"You're so delusional. I'll let you continue living in your own little world."

John didn't say anything in response to that, thinking it could be the perfect moment to change the subject and act like he actually want to get to know her. "So what are you doing after school?"

Lita didn't say anything immediately because she was wondering why he was asking her that. "Um, going home-"

"I meant after graduation."

"Okay. Why?"

John shrugged. "Just making conversation."

"Right. College. I don't care where, anywhere."

"For what?"

"Education or psychology."

"Education? Really? You would want to teach?"

The redhead shrugged. "Maybe, but I'm leaning more so towards psychology."

"Why?"

"I just want to help people," came Lita's simple response.

"There are other ways to do that, so why pick one over the other?"

"Why do you care so much?"

John rolled his eyes. "Why can't you just answer the question?" Lita did no such thing so he continued. "Like I told you before, just making conversation. Just trying to get these next few minutes to end as quickly as possible."

"I don't know. It's just something I want to do. Lame answer, but I took psychology last year and I really liked it and want to learn more. It's fascinates me. Satisfied?" John simply nodded. She was about to just leave it at that, but decided against it. If he was asking her, she might as well return the favor. "What about you?"

"I don't know. I mean, I guess I'm going to college, but I don't know what for."

"Well its like right around the corner so you might want to make a decision."

John shook his head. "Not necessarily. The way I see it, I still have time to decide. The first half is all dedicated to taking classes everyone has to take so that's the time to explore your options." Lita merely nodded as she looked away and began taking something out of her book bag. _Crap, she's probably going to start doing some homework. Hurry, ask her something else. Something not boring. _"What's your favorite color?" _Really? That's the best tou could think of?_

Lita stopped taking whatever she was going to out if her book bag and turned her attention back to John. She looked at him like he was weird, but still gave him an answer. Sort of. "Blue, because it reminds me of your eyes," she said as seriously as she could. He didn't say anything in response because he was taken aback by that type of answer. It became clear to him she was just joking when she began laughing. "Don't flatter yourself. I was kidding. I like red. And black."

"I like red too," he smirked before continuing and she just knew what he was going to say next, "because it reminds me of you and your hair." She was expecting that, but not what he said next. "You know, Mr. Regal still didn't give us an answer of what our kids hair color would most likely be. Wanna just find out for ourselves? Like our own little experiment."

Lita scowled. "Do you want to die? I can make that happen and that would be an even more fun experiment."

John wasn't phased. "Na. My proposed experiment is more fun." Lita didn't say anything to John but he could hear her mutter something under her breath which he couldn't actually hear what she was saying, but he was sure he already knew. "So what's one country you want to visit?" John asked when he couldn't think of anything else.

"I don't know. Why do you keep asking me questions?"

"Are you slow? Is your hair dyed and really blonde? I told you, just making conversation. And maybe I just want to get to know you. Is that a problem."

"No, but it is weird."

John opened his mouth to say something, but whatever he was about to say was cut short when Mr. Bischoff walked back in the room. That's when the whole room just became queit. John looked over a the clock in the room and noticed there were still five minutes left. He looked over at Lita whose head was back down on the desk. He let out a sigh as he hoped the next couple of minutes would fly by.

The last five minutes were spent in silence since Mr. Bischoff stayed put until the end. Thankfully for them, those five minutes went by pretty quickly.

"You going home now?" John asked when they were walking out of detention.

Lita nodded. "Yea. I just have to get the keys from Randy. He's in the weight room. Ugh," she groaned when she thought of something. "I'm gonna have to come back to pick up him and Christy. Maybe mom or dad can do it. My headaches returned with Bischoff just talking."

"Then you should keep the car with Randy and I can drop you off."

"You have practice that starts in five minutes."

"So? You don't live that far, I won't be too late to practice." Lita was about to decline, but he wouldn't let her. "Come on, just accept the ride. You won't have to come down here again and I know you don't want too."

"Why are you being nice?"

"I am nice." That made Lita laugh. "Hey, I am. And plus, even though you don't think of me as a friend, I do and I do help out friends in time of need.

Lita rolled her eyes. He was really annoying her with this whole friends thing. "Whatever. You win," Lita reluctantly agreed. "I don't feel like driving. Let's go."

* * *

"Lita you know the drill," Karen began to say when she saw her daughter enter the house and saw her on her phone. "I want your phone when you come home."

"I know mom," Lita said not looking up from her phone as she blindly closed the door behind her. "I just have to text Randy and tell him I'm already home that way when he checks his phone, he'll know why I didn't go get the keys from him."

"And how did you come home?" Karen questioned her.

"Here you go," Lita said as she handed her mom her cell phone. "John dropped me off."

"John? The same John you have detention with this whole month because you two can't seem to stop arguing in school?"

Lita fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Yes. And we don't argue anymore... Well we don't argue a lot that would get us into more trouble at school."

"It's hard to believe you used to have a crush on him."

"Mom! How many times have I asked you not to say that? Someone could hear you."

"No one is home other than me and you."

"But you almost slipped the other day. And please stop bringing that up. I was five."

"You were twelve. I saw a couple of pages in your notebook with 'Lita Cena' written all over. You didn't do that when you were five."

"Fine. I wasn't five, but I was stupid. And I cannot believe I actually wrote my name like that."

"Are you developing a crush on him again?"

"Ugh. Ew," Lita groaned. "No. I said I was stupid when I did have a crush on him. I'm not stupid anymore. I barely like him now."

"You talk to him a lot."

"Yes," Lita nodded. "But that's because we have a lot of classes together and he's always asking me for help."

"You don't have to help him, but you still do."

"I know." She continued before her mom could have a chance to say anything else. "I need a nap. Could you wake me up in an an hour? Possibly an hour and a half. I still have homework to do."

"Okay. Are the headaches getting any better?"

"Sorta. It's been on and off the whole day."

"Okay sweetie. I'll wake you up at five."

"Sounds good. Thanks." With that said, Lita went up to her room to take her nap. She hoped her headaches would stop when she woke up just enough for her to finish her homework. Unfortunately for her, sleep didn't come soon because she couldn't help thinking what her mom said. She thought her mom was crazy for thinking she had another crush on John and she thought she was crazy herself for having one on him previously. He annoyed her so much now, way more than he did back then, there was no way she was going to have another crush on him.

She only fell asleep for what felt like was five minutes before her mom woke her up again. She got started on her homework and no surprise to her, John called. But what surprised her was the fact that all he did was ask her how she was feeling now. That was weird because he didn't once bug her about anything at all, he just asked how she was feeling and hung up. She thought she was in some sort of bizzaro world or something with how nice he had been lately. Sure, they agreed to get along, but he was starting to creep her out.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	8. Chapter 8

"Thank God that's over with. I thought we would have gotten some time off for good behavior," John said as he and Lita were walking towards the locker room are after their last day of detention. Their whole month was finally over with and they were pretty happy about that.

Lita rolled her eyes. "We weren't in prison."

"Kinda were. We were the prisoners and Bischoff was our warden."

"You're really stupid."

"Thank you," John replied sarcastically.

They then continued to walk to their destination in relative silence. Both of them weren't sure how this happened, but they were actually getting along. They didn't get into any big arguments, but still got into it a little every now and then. They got to know one another over the past couple of weeks both inside and outside of detention and decided the other wasn't as bad as they previously thought. Lita still thought John was annoying, but not as much as before. And John still thought Lita could be a mean bitch, but she toned it down a little.

"Alright," Lita began to say as they arrived outside of the girls locker room. "I guess I'll see you later." She was about to leave but was stopped by the other teen.

"Wait," John said which caused Lita to turn around and give him a questioning look, to which he continued right after. "So, homecoming is tomorrow night."

"Yea," Lita nodded. "I guess so. What's your point?"

John smirked before he responded. "You think you're gonna win homecoming Queen?"

Lita scowled. "I should slap you for that. Who told you to nominate me?"

John shrugged. "I thought it would be funny. And who knows, maybe you'll win."

She rolled her eyes. "You're annoying. Does this have a point?"

"Right," John said before he got to the point as she asked. But before he could do so, he looked up and saw Chris standing not too far away from them, observing the two. Now he knew he had to ask her something. "So, wanna go with me?"

"Um, where?" Lita asked confused.

"Homecoming."

Lita stared at him for a second, not saying anything. But then she began to laugh and he wasn't surprised at all. He saw Chris from the corner of his eye laughing as well. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all. It would have been better for her to turn him down like that if Chris wasn't around. Now he would never hear the end of it from his blonde friend.

"A simple 'no' would have crossed the same message. No need to be mean about it."

"Are you serious?" Lita asked after she sobered up. "You want to go to homecoming with me?" John simply nodded. "Okay, why?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. "You don't have a date, I don't have one so why not go together."

"Like a date?"

"No," John shook his head. "That's not what I meant." He looked up and made sure Chris was paying attention to them while being careful not to make it obvious to Lita what he was doing. "Going together as friends. We are friends right?"

Lita rolled her eyes. He was really getting on his nerves about this whole being friends thing. She sighed before speaking up. "Yea, I guess we are friends."

John tried not to let a smirk appear on his face especially when Chris looked annoyed that John finally won the first part of the bet. He didn't have to worry about Chris anymore when the other teen decided to leave. "So then why don't you just go with a friend?"

"Because I am. Me and Trish have been going together to homecoming since freshman year. Victoria joined us last year and Stephanie is joining us this year. So no, I will not go with you."

"I thought Stephanie would go with Hunter?"

Lita shook her head. "They're fighting for some reason. I don't know and I don't care. They're like always fighting."

"So you want me to go alone then? You know I'm gonna look like a loser."

Lita shrugged. "I don't care. Not my fault."

"Save me a dance then?"

"We'll see."

"You know you'll be forced to dance with me if I win King and you win Queen." He smirked before he continued. "How funny would it be if you and Randy won? You would have to dance together!" He laughed as Lita looked disgusted by what he just said.

"That's not funny. That's actually disturbing on many levels. Plus, I'm not going to win so it doesn't matter. It's going to be between that slut Stacy and Trish. I really hope Trish wins."

"I voted for you."

Lita rolled her eyes. "Well, you did nominate for some stupid reason so that would make sense. So there's one vote."

"I'm sure other people voted for you too."

Lita shrugged. "Again. I don't care. Anyways, I have to go and I'm sure you do too-"

"You goin' to the party tonight?" He asked referring to the party the seniors had every year the night before homecoming.

"Nope. I don't want too."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't want to. I hate homecoming week. That Pep Rally was really stupid today. I have to be at the parade in the morning for the volleyball team. Steph, Vicky, and Edge are dragging me to the game in the afternoon which I don't want to go to. It's an easy win for you guys, but I'm sure you and Randy will find a way to make it close and even possibly lose." That earned her a glare from the other teen, but she didn't care to acknowledge it and continued. "And Trish threatened me if I don't go to our final homecoming. So yea, if I have to do all that, then I'm sure not going to the party tonight."

"I'll miss you," he said knowing she was going to get annoyed.

The redhead rolled her eyes and shook her head. "You'll live. Now I'm going. See you around." With that said, she left.

* * *

"You owe me one hundred bucks," John said as when he walked up to Chris when he saw him at the party later that night. He didn't get to talk to him earlier that day after Lita left because he was in a rush and he knew he would be able to talk to the blonde teen later.

"I know. I'll give it to you next week."

"Now I can focus on part two. It's gonna be a breeze"

Chris snorted. "You wish. It's going to be much more difficult than this one."

"I know," John nodded, "but I have five months. I only need two months for this."

"Wanna bet?" Chris asked with a smirk present on his face.

John looked at him confused. "I thought we were already doin' that."

"We are. But I mean, you think you can do it in two months, then let's change it up a bit."

John arched a brow. "What do you have in mind?"

"Get her to be your girlfriend by the first week of December and you'll get fifty extra bucks. March is still on for one hundred though if you can't do it by then."

"Deal," John said as he shook on it with Chris. He was sure he was sure he would be able to win the second part by the first week of December. That was only two months away. That was more than enough time for him in his mind. "It's a shame she's not here. I could have gotten an early start on that. I guess I have to wait until tomorrow night now."

"You two are idiots." Both Chris and John turned around when they heard a familiar voice. "I just heard every thing you said. You might want to be more careful when talking about your stupid bet. If I just heard you, someone else could too. Someone else like Randy who I saw here earlier. If you're still going on with that dumb thing, you might want to be careful."

Both John and Chris rolled their eyes with the former speaking up. "No one's gonna hear us. Calm down."

"There's a part of me hoping one of them does hear you. You need to get your ass kicked." Jeff glanced at Chris before he continued "Both of you, not just John. You made the bet, all of this isn't just John. She's a human with feelings. You both are dumbasses."

"You know what Jeff?" John said highly irritated. "You need to mind your own business. This doesn't concern you, so just shut up. You said you wouldn't tell either of them, so don't even think about it now."

Jeff rolled his eyes. "Touchy touchy. Whatever." He left to go somewhere else because he knew he wasn't welcomed around the other two for now.

"Your cousin can be such a pain in the ass," Chris said after Jeff left.

"I know," John nodded in agreement. "I don't think he'll tell though."

"Whatever. All I know is that if either of the Orton twins find out, they'll be coming after you, not me. So, good luck with that."

John scowled. "You're an asshole." Chris was about to say something but was interrupted when Randy showed up.

"You better not mess up tomorrow," Randy said to John. "You better not be drinking any alcohol right now," he said gesturing to the cup in John's hand. "You have to be aware for the game. I will not let you ruin this for me. We have an easy game we can't lose."

John rolled his eyes. He was hoping he would be able to avoid Randy tonight, but that obviously wasn't going to happen. "Not that it's any of your business, I'm not drinking. As for the game, worry about yourself. If anyone, you would be the problem."

Randy snorted. "Stop being delusional. If anything, I'm the reason why we win."

John rolled his eyes once again. "You're full of yourself."

"That's real rich coming from you."

"If that's the only reason you came to bother me, then you can just leave."

"Just don't mess up tomorrow. This is my last chance at states."

"It's not only your last chance, it's my last chance too and some other guys as well." Randy said nothing in response and turned around to leave, but stopped when John decided to have a little fun. "You know, that sister of yours was looking hot today. It's a shame she's not here right now."

Randy turned around with a glare present on his face. "Stay the hell away from Lita."

"I told you already that's not possible."

"Just know this, if you ever do anything to her, I will beat the shit out of you and then bury you alive. Got it?"

"Yea, I'd like to see that," John muttered under his breath, but continued out loud. "She's my friend. Get over it. Just shut up and go bother someone else."

Randy sent one last look to his teammate before leaving. John didn't understand why Randy had to come talk to him in the first place.

* * *

Meanwhile, Lita was at Trish's house along with Victoria and Stephanie. Trish suggested they have a sleepover since Stephanie was upset about something she didn't tell the others about. The girls thought the blonde cheerleaders house was the best option because her parents were out of town. The other girls parents were under the impression that Trish's parents were actually at their house, but none of their daughters thought it was necessary to tell them otherwise. Plus, it wasn't like any of them asked so they weren't lying.

"So Steph," Trish began to say as she painted the brunette's nails. "Why so glum lately?"

"Hunter's being an ass," came Stephanie's reply. The others waited for her to continue, but she didn't.

"And why is that?" Lita decided to ask when Stephanie didn't continue.

Stephanie shook her head. "Nothing."

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Clearly," she said sarcastically. "Seriously, spill. What's going on?"

"Nothing," Stephanie said, still not giving in which made Trish go to drastic measures. Trish lifted the bottle of the nail polish which was practically full and threatened to spill it over Stephanie's head. "Spill the deets or you will get the nail polish in your hair. You know how hard that's going to be to get out?"

"You're nosy."

Trish shrugged. "Probably. Now, do you want to tell us what's going on or do you want to spend hours getting nail polish out of your hair?"

"Bitch," Stephanie muttered under her breath before she sighed and gave in. "I thought I was pregnant and he freaked out on me and we got in a fight."

"Wow," Trish said after the revelation. That wasn't something she was expecting at all.

"I thought you were a virgin," Victoria said after he got over her shock.

"Are you?" Lita asked after she got over her own shock.

"Obviously not Li if she thought she was pregnant."

The redhead stuck her tongue out at the raven-haired teen. "I mean about being pregnant doofus."

"No," Stephanie replied before Victoria could reply to Lita. "Thank God for that. I have so many plans for my future and having a baby at seventeen would just ruin it. Plus, daddy would be so disappointed and angry."

"Steph sweetie, you're seventeen. Stop calling your dad 'daddy'. It's very childish."

Stephanie scowled. "Shut up."

"Man Steph. I wish you were pregnant than you could be one of the girls on _16 and Pregnant _and we," Victoria said gesturing between herself and Lita and Trish, "could be your supportive friends."

"We would be on tv and get our fifteen minutes of fame," Lita added.

"And I could totally design your wedding gown when your dad made you and Hunter get married. That could be my first step to fame." Trish finished.

Stephanie glared at all three of them which caused them to laugh. "Okay, I really don't understand why I'm even friends with you three."

"Because we're awesome. Duh. I thought Trish was the only blonde around here," Lita joked which earned her a playful punch from Trish. "Ow."

"Since you're awesome, then how about helping set up for homecoming tomorrow?" The other three girls glanced at one another and immediately shook their heads. "You can't say 'no' to your President." They still didn't give in. "Why not? Three more volunteers means we'll get done faster. Come on please! I could really use your help.

The three glanced at one another again. Trish sighed before speaking up. "Fine. But now it's truth or dare time!" She exclaimed as she excitedly clapped her hands together.

"I'm in," Stephanie said hoping this was a way to change the subject. "You can be first since you suggested it." Trish agreed and the other girls thought about it for a moment before Stephanie came up with something. "Who was your first crush when you moved here? We obviously wouldn't know anyone from before you moved here."

Trish hated that Stephanie had to ask her this question. She didn't want to answer it all. Maybe she could lie, but she knew she wouldn't be able to pull it off. "Randy," she reluctantly admitted after a while.

"As in my brother?" Lita asked to which Trish simply nodded. "Ew. I did not need to know that."

Trish rolled her eyes. "Grow up. That was in 6th grade."

"Yea, she likes Jeff now," Stephanie chimed in. She was glad the attention was off of her and on someone else now.

"Shut up."

"And seriously Li," Victoria began to say even though she knew Lita wouldn't like what she was going to say. "I wouldn't blame her if she did still have a crush on Randy. He's hot."

"Ew Vicky," Lita said disgusted. "I did not need to hear that."

"But she's right. He is. I like when we practice outside and they're also practicing outside and he takes his shirt off-"

"Shut up!" Lita exclaimed. "No more comments about Randy. I will kill you all." They all laughed at her.

"Chill out Li," Trish said after she was able to stop laughing. "We were just messing with you. I mean, he is hot-"

"Shut up! Let's change the subject. Who's turn is it now."

"Yours," Victoria replied before anyone else could. "So truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Who was your first kiss?" Stephanie asked after a while. Trish tried her hardest not to laugh because she knew the answer and wasn't sure Lita was going to tell the truth.

"I don't remember," Lita lied. Truth was, she rather forget about it all.

"Bull shit," Trish coughed which earned her a look that would send her to an early death if looks could kill. "Just tell them."

"What is she talking about? Who was it?" Stephanie asked.

"I said I don't remember," Lita continued to lie with Stephanie continuing to push it.

"I didn't want to tell either of you about my problem but you all were being nosy so I will keep bothering you until you tell." Lita said nothing so Stephanie continued. "Fine. Trish knows so Vicky and I will just ask her instead."

"Why don't you two guess," Trish said while trying not to laugh. "I mean, I don't think you'll be able to guess correctly, but I want to know who you think."

Stephanie and Victoria looked at one another with confused looks on their face. With the way Trish was talking and Lita was acting, it felt like it would be someone they would never think about.

"Edge?" Victoria incorrectly guessed.

"That's disgusting. Let me puke first," Lita replied even though the real answer was just as disturbing for her.

Stephanie let out a small laugh before she made a guess herself. "John?" She joked. It wasn't a real guess, but Lita looked away and Trish was trying so hard not to laugh once again. "Oh my God! It was him! When? Why? How? I thought you hated him!"

"I do. I mean I did. I don't know. Just shut up. You know the answer so now it's someone else's turn."

"Hell no," Victoria said before Lita could move on and it could be someone else's turn. "Your first kiss was John? We need details now. Trish already knows and we already know too so why not just tell us everything."

"Because it's none of your business. Truth or dare Vicky?"

"Just tell us. Like I said, we already know he was your first kiss. We just want to know how that happened." Victoria ignored her question and continued to get Lita to admit the truth.

"Then we'll forget this ever happened?" She asked to which Victoria and Stephanie nodded. "Fine. It was a long time ago in middle school. That was one of the few times we actually got along back then. And I don't remembered how we found out the other has never been kissed before so he suggested we be each other's first kiss. He said that way we wouldn't die without being kissed if one of us got hit by a bus or something that day or whenever."

"That's so cute!" Stephanie replied.

"He just wanted to kiss you and used that as an excuse," Victoria said.

"Well maybe he'll find out you're a virgin and he could be your first something else too," Trish innocently suggested.

"Shut up and no it wasn't cute," Lita shook her head. "It was stupid."

Trish smirked before she asked the next question because she already knew the answer to it. "Then why did you agree?"

Lita glared at her supposed best-friend. "I'm going to kill you."

"So why did you agree?" Victoria repeated Trish's question.

"Oh my God!" Stephanie exclaimed when she thought about the possible reasons when Lita wouldn't reply. "You liked him! You had a crush on him! That's why you and Trish have been acting so shady since I first asked the question! What happened? You hate him now! Or at least you used up until like a week ago or something."

"I really hate you," Lita said focusing her attention to Trish who said nothing in response because she was too busy laughing. "It was a long time ago. Let's just get to Vicky's turn. Truth or dare?"

"No way," Victoria shook her head. "What happened? Did something happen between you two that you stopped being civil? Does Randy know? Did something happen between you and John that Randy and him hate one another."

Lita groaned. "You guys are so annoying. No. Okay? We didn't like each other even before then so we kind of just went back to normal. Like I told you, that was one of the very few times we weren't in our arguing phase. It wasn't normal. And I don't know why they don't like one another. That's not my problem. Only my mom and Trish knew. Now can we just move on?"

"Fine," Victoria reluctantly agreed. She wanted to know more- if there was more- but she knew Lita would just get pissed off so she left it alone which was why Stephanie and Trish decided to leave it alone as well. "Truth."

The played Truth or Dare for another half hour before getting sick of it. The topic of John was brought up once again when Trish said they all needed to find a boyfriend before prom or start looking for a date now otherwise they would be pathetic and go alone. Lita suggested she stop waiting for Jeff to ask her out and she could do it herself because it was the twenty first century for crying out loud and girls were allowed to ask guys out. Trish then suggested Lita do the same with John which just pissed her off. Lita once again repeated that they were friends and the crush was so long ago that it didn't matter anymore and she would like it if they would stop bringing that up again.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	9. Chapter 9

Randy looked up at the scoreboard the next day towards the end of the homecoming game. So far they were playing much better than the other team in every single aspect like they were supposed to.

"Good job guys," Randy said as he addressed the players that weren't on the field. "We're killing it today. Everybody is doing great."

"Yea, maybe because you and John haven't fought even once today," Hunter said from behind him when he came to the sidelines off from the field. "You know that's a big distraction. Think you guys can do that for the other games as well?"

"We only lost one game so far-"

"And that was supposed to be an easy win and we have three tough games coming up so let's not forget about that."

Randy decided to ignore Hunter as he turned his attention to John who was standing next to Hunter. "You did really great. You were all over the field. You definitely did your job today."

John was taken aback by Randy's compliment. Sure, they did have mutual respect for one another on the field even though they always claimed the other sucked, they just never expressed it to each other. "Thanks," John said after he overcame the shock of Randy saying something nice to him which he decided to return the favor. "You were pretty impressive."

"Has hell frozen over?" Hunter asked as he watched the two interact. "I can't believe this. If someone told me this happened, I wouldn't believe it until I saw it. Actually, I'm seeing it and it still seems like I'm dreaming."

"Maybe they'll stop fighting all the time and we could actually have a chance at states," Dave added.

Both John and Randy rolled their eyes at the two but said nothing in regards to what they were saying. Instead, Randy decided to continue his little speech. "Anyways, I just wanted to say I'm very proud of how we all played as a team today. Keep it up."

"Same here. Sure, there were a little hiccups here and there, but those are easy to forget because look at that scoreboard. There is no signs of the horrible start we had out there. There's only a couple of minutes left. There is no way we lose this unless they score thirty points which they won't do because that's like impossible," the other co-captain added. John turned his attention to Dave. "Do not talk about the playoffs at all. We are not jinxing that for us. We still have a couple of games to go before we can even talk about the playoffs."

Randy nodded. "He's right. Let's not jinx ourselves. No talk about the post-season until we actually make it. We can't get caught up in it and mess up before we even get there."

"Um, what are you doing?" Dave asked Hunter who was looking up at the sky.

"Looking for flying pigs. I don't see any and yet, Randy and John over here agreeing with one another about everything. Maybe Hell has frozen over."

* * *

The girls, Lita, Trish, Stephanie, and Victoria, were all getting ready for homecoming together at Trish's house the following evening. After the game, they helped Stephanie decorate for the dance like they were asked to do the night before. It wasn't all that bad like they originally thought, but they definitely wouldn't do it again. And it also cut into the time they had to get ready for the dance which only Trish seemed to care about.

"I'm surprised you're not wearing black," Trish said when she saw Lita enter the room once again after she put on her dress.

"I don't always wear black," Lita began to say as she examined her hair in the mirror, trying to figure out what she wanted to do with it. She just wanted to put a brush through it and call it a day, but she knew her best-friend would have a problem with that. "Sure, the majority of my closet is black, but I don't always wear black."

"You do know that there are more colors than just black?" Trish asked as she went up behind Lita and tried to figure out the same thing the redhead was trying to do.

Lita rolled her eyes because now that Trish was right behind her, there was no way she was going to have a say in how her hair looked. "Which might explain why I'm wearing navy. Speaking of, you wear blue a lot. Yea, it's always a different shade, but blue is still blue. You don't see me complaining. So just leave me and my black color alone to be happy. I miss my black."

"You are so weird."

"Which is why you love me."

"Do I now?"

Lita fake pouted. "I hate you."

Trish hugged Lita from behind before as she responded. "But I love you."

Lita was about to say something in return, but Stephanie interrupted her before she could which caused Trish to back away from Lita a little. "Can you two stop your little lesbian love fest or whatever you two have going on for a moment? I need help," she said showing them two different dress options. "So I brought two dresses with me because I was having a hard time figuring out which would look better."

"You mean you were having a hard time deciding which dress will tell Hunter 'You messed up big time and I'm gonna make you regret it and work hard to make up for it,'" Victoria interrupted Stephanie smiled and nodded.

"He's not getting off that easily."

"Well then you obviously want to stick out," Lita said before any of the other two could. "The red sticks out more than the silver but the silver looks better."

"She's right," Trish nodded in agreement as she walked closer to Stephanie so she could get a better look of the two options. "You should wear this once," she said as holding a little bit of the silver dress. "I have jewlery that would make it all look amazing together. And I can do your makeup and it won't take that long. We don't even have that long to get ready so hurry and wear your dress so I can do your hair and makeup."

"What if she wants to do her own hair and makeup?"

Stephanie shook her head. "I don't. Trish knows her stuff. Do your magic."

"Yay!" Trish squealed. "He will be begging for your forgiveness right away."

Victoria and Lita glanced at one another with the former roller her eyes and the latter silently hoping this meant Trish wouldn't use her as her experiment doll and she would do her own stuff.

"Get dressed," Trish said to Stephanie. "While you do that, I'm going to work on Lita," she said when she was right next to Lita again. All hope was gone, but Lita was still going to try and convince Trish to let her do what she wanted.

"I know how to do my hair and makeup. Work on Vicky-"

"I don't need it nor do I want it," the other teen interrupted Lita who just ignored her and continued.

"-or do your own stuff. You even said so yourself that we don't have a lot of time so it would just be easier if we did our own stuff. Just be happy Stephanie is willing and happy to let you doll her up."

Trish let out a sigh before she easily gave in. "You're right. But you better do something nice with your hair. You could win Queen!" She smirked before continuing.

Lita rolled her eyes at that. "I don't think so. It'll either be you or Stacy. I hope it's you. Stacy would be unbearable and we would never hear the end of it."

"Well, I hope it's you and I voted for you."

"Me too," Victoria spoke up. "And I know Steph did as well."

"So did a bunch of other people," Trish continued. "I actually told people to vote for you and I'm pretty sure a lot of them did just because they don't want a cheerleader to win. Plus, there are a lot of people that like you more than they like Stacy although I will never understand how she won for the junior side of the homecoming court last year." Trish quickly added something else when she thought of it. "Just don't think I'll help you out for Prom. I want that for myself. I will screw with you just for Prom Queen. I will play dirty."

Lita rolled her eyes. "I know you will. But you have nothing to worry about because Prom Queen isn't something some idiot can nominate you for because he's stupid and has no life and just wants to bother me. You do that dumb stuff yourself and there's no way I'm doing that."

Trish nodded. "Good. So what are you doing with the hair?"

"I was thinking the half up half down thing. I don't wanna do much. Just something simple."

Lita couldn't read the look on Trish's face so she had no idea what the blonde was going to say. "Alright," Trish finally said after a while. She was picturing in her head if it would look nice and according to her, it would. "Need help?" Lita simply shook her head as she began to work on her hair with Trish turning her attention to Victoria. "A side braid would look good on you."

"No," Victoria shook her head in disagreement. "I already know what I'm going to do. I was thinking of doing the same as Li."

"No way. You two cannot have the same hair. Do something different."

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Nope. It's just hair. We're not wearing the same dress."

"That would not be good. Not even the same color," Trish interrupted, but Victoria ignored her and continued.

"I want to do something simple as well and that's all I could think of."

"There are multiple styles that come-"

"Nope. Don't care. Work on yourself and Steph. Leave me and Li alone."

"Fine," Trish reluctantly agreed and watched the two girls work on their hair before she finished her own hair and makeup done before Stephanie came after she got dressed. It took them almost another hour to finish getting ready for the dance before they finally headed out.

* * *

"We've been here almost two hours already and she won't dance with me," John complained to Chris as the two watched those on the dance floor from afar.

"I know," Chris replied, trying not to laugh at what he witnessed earlier. "It's funny to see her reject you over and over again. You're gonna have a hard time with this one."

John scoffed. "You wish. She already likes me as a friend. Two months, I got this."

"Whatever. In the meantime, I'll just enjoy watching her say 'no' to you over and over again."

John ignored his friend. "Maybe we'll both win King and Queen and she'll be forced to dance with me."

"I can see her talking herself out of that," Chris laughed. "I hope you two do win to see what she would do."

John glared at the other teen. "You're annoying."

"Thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment."

Chris shrugged. "I don't care."

John said nothing and it didn't even matter if he was about to respond because Stacy, along with Candice and Torrie, decided to show up and talk to the two. More specifically John.

"Hey John!" Stacy smiled at him and he tried his hardest not to walk away. She really annoyed him sometimes with how much she tried to talk to him for no reason. It was like she didn't get the hint that he wasn't interested in her at all. Maybe he was two years ago, but definitely not now.

"Hi," John replied as nice as he could. "I have to go do something," he lied as he began to walk away, but she continued.

"Don't want to ask me to dance with you?"

John shook his head. "Not particularly."

Stacy turned to glare at Torrie and Candice who snickered at John's response. She mouthed them to shut up and turned her attention back to John. "Why not? You're not dancing with anyone and I'm not dancing with anyone so it makes sense if we dance together."

"Yea, but if he dances with you then Lita won't dance with him," Chris spoke up for the first time since Stacy and her posse approached him and John. "And he really wants to dance with her," Chris finished with earned him a scowl.

Stacy scrunched her nose in disgust. "Ew. Why would anyone want to dance with her? You'll catch her diseases."

John rolled his eyes. "Same could be said about you and it would actually be true."

"Excuse me?"

"Nothing," John said as he decided to walk away from her with Chris following suit. He didn't care to stop at all this time when she was still talking to him, calling after him to tell him he was being rude. Yea, he really didn't care.

"You know what's funny? Stacy's acting with you how you act with Lita. Stacy keeps trying to throw herself at you and you want none of it, but she doesn't get the hint. You keep doing the same to Lita."

"Yea, except I actually have a chance with Red." That caused Chris to burst into laughter.

"You're delusional," Chris said through laughter.

"Shut up."

"Excuse me," they heard Stephanie's voice come out from the speakers. "Sorry for the interruption, we will get the music back soon, but everyone nominated for homecoming court needs to make their way near the stage. The winners are about to be announced so we need all nominees to the stage right now."

"I guess that's my cue," John said to Chris. "I'll see you after my dance with Red which will happen whether or not we both win." With that said, he left to do as he said.

Fifteen minutes had passed by and the freshmen, sophomore, and junior winners were announced. Now it was time for the senior winners to be declared.

"I hope you win," Trish said to Lita who was standing right next to her.

Stacy snorted. "Yea, that's not going to happen. You two might as well just get off stage now because I'm going to win."

Trish and Lita simply glanced at one another, silently hoping it wasn't Stacy who won.

"So now it's time for Homecoming King and Queen. First, I'm going to announce the Queen." Stephanie opened up the envelope in her hands which revealed the winners and was pleasantly surprised at the results. "Wow. This was a really close one," she stated glancing at all five of the nominees before she looked back down at the paper in her hands. "The winner won by only three votes. Should I announce who was second as well or can some of you not handle knowing you only needed four more votes to win?" Stephanie joked

"I would love to know who I beat out," Stacy said to which Lita and Trish glanced at one another again, shaking their head and rolling their eyes at the blonde's huge ego.

"Good luck with that," Stephanie muttered under her breath. "Well, I guess the girls want to know who was second as well, so I will now reveal who the two with the most votes were. Can I have a drumroll please?" Silence. "When your President asks you to do something, you do it," Stephanie huffed annoyed and Trish and Lita found themselves on an end of a glare from their friend because they were laughing at her. "Anyways, the top two are... Trish Stratus and Lita Orton!"

"What?!" Stacy was fuming. "You're lying! Let me see that!" She exclaimed, walking up to Stephanie so she could see if that was actually the truth. "Give me that paper."

Stephanie shook her head. "No can do. I don't need you to spoil the winner which will now be revealed after I tell who King is because the two possible Queens can wait... for being bitches," she said the last part off of the microphone so only the two in question could hear her.

"You know you love us," Trish and Lita said in unison.

"You wish." Stephanie turned her attention to the five nominated boys and was about to declare a winner for them, but Stacy decided to interrupt her.

"I will not accept defeat especially not from those two until I see the proof that you aren't lying! This was rigged!"

"I'm so close to kicking her ass," Stephanie said as Stacy walked closer to her. "Someone needs to take her away from me." It didn't take long for one of the teachers near them to escort Stacy off the stage.

"Anyways," Stephanie continued after Stacy was gone for the moment. "You're Homecoming King is..." she opened the envelope and laughed when she saw who was on the top of the list and thought of who won Queen. _This is going to be so much fun_. "John Cena!"

"Oh God," Lita whispered to Trish. "You better win otherwise this school ain't seeing a King and Queen dance this year."

Trish rolled her eyes. "Shut up."

"Girls," Stephanie said after she returned her attention to the two. She was too excited to see how the Queen was going to react. "Your Queen is..." she glanced at John and winked at him which basically told him he knew who was going to win, which made him smile in return. "Lita Orton!"

"Hell no!" Stacy exclaimed. "There is no way in hell I lost to her!" Once again, the same teacher who took Stacy off of the stage took her away. She escorted the blonde teen outside of the gym where the dance was taking place and try to calm her down and tell her she would be kicked out if she didn't stop causing trouble.

"You're lying," Lita said as Stephanie walked over to her to place the crown on her head. "Don't put that thing on my hair. I wanna see the proof."

Stephanie rolled her eyes and showed Lita the results which told her she did win Queen and beat out Trish who was happy for her friend and in no way jealous at all like Stacy. But then again, Lita and Trish were best-friends and Trish did basically campaign for Lita instead of herself.

Lita shook her head and groaned. "Do I really have to dance with him?"

Stephanie nodded and placed the crown on the reluctant redhead. "It's tradition." Stephanie glanced over at John who wasn't that far from them, but wasn't too near either that he could hear what she was about to say to Lita. She smirked as she looked back at Lita and spoke up, making sure only Lita and Trish were able to hear her. "Just pretend you're twelve again and you'll love it."

"I hate you."

"You'll get over it. Oh and don't forget to smile because there will be pictures taken for the yearbook. Don't worry, you two will get copies too!"

"I hate you," Lita repeated once again. Stephanie sent Lita one last smile before she left. "You too Trish. You just had to open your mouth about... me being stupid when I was twelve." She didn't wait for Trish to say anything as she walked over to John so they could get this dance over with.

"I told you we were going to end up dancing at least once today. You still owe me one after this one though," John said as the two began their King and Queen dance.

Lita raised a brow at him. "And why is that?"

"Because I said so and I'm your King and you're my Queen," he smirked at her and she was tempted to slap the smirk off his face, but she was able to control herself.

"New bet!" Trish said on the other side of the gym as she joined Edge and Christian who looked very amused and entertained at the thought that Lita won Queen and it all started off with John just messing around with her when he first nominated her. He actually approached the two and asked them to nominate her as well because there had to be five people to nominate someone else in order for them to be considered. They were curious as to what he was up to, but they didn't question him and just agreed.

Trish continued after the two boys gave her a questioning look. "So you know how we first said that Lita would end up killing John?" They nodded and Trish continued. "That's not going to happen. They will totally get together!"

Christian shook his head as he interrupted her. "Not gonna happen. She still can't stand him."

"They're friends now. It's so going to happen."

"I agree with Trish," Edge said. "It's going to happen. Look at them now, she's actually laughing at something he said."

"Then Christian wins the money if they don't get together by the end of the school year. I think it'll happen by February. What about you?"

"After then," Edge replied. I don't know when, but it will happen before we graduate."

"Okay. Christian wins if they don't start a relationship. I win if they get together by February and you win if it happens sometime after February but before graduation." She glance between the two. "Deal?"

"Still one hundred bucks?" Christian asked to which both Edge and Trish nodded. "Alright, deal."

"Oh God," Lita said as her and John's dance ended and everyone else joined them. "Why does he keep looking at me?"

John turned around to see who she was talking about and laughed. "He likes you."

"That's good for him. It doesn't mean he has to keep staring at me. I feel dirty. Oh God. He's coming this way. Keep dancing with me. Please!" She plead with him and he continued to laugh at her.

John feigned a look of hurt. "You're just gonna use me like that?"

"So?" Lita shrugged. "You won't mind. You said you wanted to dance, so let's dance. I don't want to dance with him. You know how desperate I am if I'm willing to dance with you over him."

"I take offense to that. What's wrong with Carlito?"

"He's a creep. He doesn't give me good vibes. He's so shady."

"Have fun," John pretended he was about to walk away but Lita kept pleading with him so he decided to let her out of her misery. "Chill, I'm kidding."

"Thank you thank you thank you! He just went the other way when you came back!"

John rolled his eyes. "Glad I could be of help."

"Hey Li," Trish said after a couple of minutes when she walked up to the dancing duo. "I need to tell you something." She looked over at John. "Alone."

"Still have one more dance left for me?" John asked Lita before he left

"We'll see. I guess I should be nice to you for keeping the creep away."

"See ya later then Red. I will find you."

"Okay, so now you're a creep too." John rolled his eyes and said nothing as he left. "What's up?" Lita asked Trish who was smiling.

"I'm so going to win this new bet!"

Lita looked confused. "I'm gonna need you to clarify." Trish proceeded to tell Lita the details of the new bet she formed with Edge and Christian, who joined the two not long after.

"You might as well give Christian the money now because he's going to win," Lita replied after she heard Trish's story. She glanced at her two so-called best-friends. "You both suck."

"But you still love us!"

Lita shook her head. "Not so much right now."

Trish rolled her eyes. "Shut up. You're my date, we're supposed to dance so let's dance."

"You have two other dates, dance with them."

"No can do. Steph and Hunter are talking and Vicky is MIA."

"Then go dance with Jeff. You know you want to. Stop being scared or I'll just tell him to ask you to dance with you."

"You wouldn't."

"Show's how little you know me."

Trish scowled. "I hate you."

"Feeling's mutual. I'm going to dance with my only true friend. Come on Christian. Let's go."

The night ended after another hour. True to her words, Lita let John have another dance with her. And that one dance turned into a couple of more. By the end of the night, John was convinced the second part of the bet wouldn't be so hard and he would be getting the extra fifty from Chris for completing it sooner than the original time.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	10. Chapter 10

John found himself in another high schools gym a couple of Tuesdays later. He had no clue what possessed him to go there after his own practice, but he was currently watching the girls volleyball game. It was the last game before the playoffs started which the girls team was fighting for. Well, they already made it to playoffs, they were just figuring out who they were going to play in the first round next week after the outcome of their game. Towson was currently leading the other school, Pikesville, by the smallest of margins in a game which saw both teams doing pretty well. John wouldn't be surprised if this ended in a tie breaker. He didn't know how a tie breaker worked in volleyball, but he had a feeling he was going to find out.

"When's this thing ending?" Chris, who John had to practically beg to join him, asked from next to him. He wasn't bored watching the game, but unlike John, he wasn't too interested either.

"I don't know," John shrugged as he turned his attention to his friend. It's a good game so stop complaining and watch it."

"I'm bored. I hope these chicks start fighting." John simply rolled his eyes as he continued. "I bet you if anyone gets into a fight, it's going to be Lita. Or Victoria. Those two always look like they're ready to fight. Especially the redhead. She definitely lives by that stereotype."

John rolled his eyes once again. "Shut up."

"I really do think she could take most of the other team on her own. And her and Victoria could take them all just them two."

"Whatever."

Chris was about to continue but that's when they heard a loud scream which was heard all over the gym and could possibly be heard in the surrounding areas in the school. Both teens looked back to where the game was occurring to see what the commotion was about.

"Ow!" Lita yelled in pain as she held her left ankle. She landed on it at a bad angle after she tried to go after the ball before it could hit the ground. "It hurts so much!"

"You okay Li?" Victoria asked when she was finally at her teammates side. She immediately regretted asking such a idiotic question when she received a scowl from her friend. "Okay. Stupid question."

"Yea, I'm just screaming for fun!"

"We need to get her to get some help for that ankle," Coach Runnels said to the other schools coach who was now beside Lita and the others who had gathered around. "It looked bad the way she landed and its swelling up already. It could be sprained instead of twisted."

"No!" Lita said as she continued holding her injured ankle. "If it's sprained, then that means I'm done. This is my senior year. This is my last chance."

"You could always fail and do this again next season," John joked after he and Chris decided to get a better look of what was going on since they weren't paying much attention due to Chris' whining when Lita got hurt.

"Shut it Cena," Lita glared at him. "Oh my God! This hurts really bad. Can I get some help now?!"

The other coach proceeded to tell Coach Runnels of the room behind the gym where a trainer could look at Lita's ankle.

"I'll take her," John volunteered. "I drove here so I can take her back to her house after she gets checked out."

"Alright," Coach Runnels nodded. "Sounds good."

"No. I'm not going with you. Your driving annoys me. Your driving will just hurt my ankle even more by all that bouncing your reckless driving is going to cause."

John rolled his eyes. "I drive perfectly fine." He smirked as he continued when he noticed someone else was nearby. "Calrito's here," he said gesturing towards the other teen. "I'm sure he would love to give you a ride since he did come to this game just for you."

"Fine," Lita finally agreed. There was no way she was going to go anywhere with Carlito. He gave her creepy vibes. She didn't like the way he looked at her. "You win."

John and Chris both helped Lita to the room in the back of the gym where someone would take a look at her ankle. Chris was glad this meant they would be leaving soon although he would have to go with John to Lita's house after she was done with the trainer.

"Well, it's a mild sprain," the trainer, who happened to be a med student, told Lita. "You're going to have to stay off of it as much as you can for the next couple of days. Use the acronym RICE. Rest your ankle as much as you can. Stay off of it as much as possible or use a crutches so you won't put your any weight on it. Ice your ankle for the next two or three days like ten minutes every other hour. Ice it until the swelling goes down. Compress it by keeping that," he gestured to the bandage wrapped around her ankle, "on for the next couple of days. And finally, elevation. Keep your ankle raised at a high level and it should help with the swelling."

"Great. What about for now?" Lita asked after he was done with the instructions she could care less about. She wanted something for the pain and she wanted it now.

"What do you mean?"

Lita had to fight the urge from rolling her eyes and calling him stupid. That wouldn't help with what she was trying to do. "It hurts really bad. Do you think you could, you know, give me something for the pain?"

"Take Motrin, Tylenol, or Advil. It should help with the pain. Which one do you want? We have all three."

"Maybe later but I need something that will work right away. You know like something strong. It hurts so much." She pouted at him, doing anything she could think of so he would give in and give her some pills because the pain was really getting to her.

The student looked like he was about to say no, but he looked around before he took something out his pocket. "I shouldn't be doing this, but here you go," he said as he handed her a pill.

"Just one?" Lita asked. "I could really use more."

"Okay," he said as he handed her another pill. "These are really strong so just take half at a time and then-"

"Oopsies," Lita said after she swallowed both of the pills. "All gone."

"I could get fired for this."

"Don't worry. It'll be our little secret," she winked at him.

Meanwhile, John and Chris were waiting for Lita outside of the room.

"She's been in there forever," Chris said as he looked down at his phone so he could see the time. "I wouldn't be surprised if everyone in there," he gestured inside the gym where the game was still taking place, "leaves before us."

John was about to say something but was interrupted by a loud redhead who finally joined the two. "Johnny!" She exclaimed as she made her way to the two with the med student following after. "He used to be the biggest pain ever, but not anymore! I don't want to kill him all the time now!"

"What the hell?" John asked the student who looked nervous like he was about to get caught after doing something he wasn't supposed to.

"She found some painkillers on the floor," he lied, "and took them. She just needs to sleep it off and will be fine. I need to go. I'm gonna go." With that said, he hurriedly left before anyone could say anything to him.

"Call me!" Lita called after him and started laughing.

"She's high off of pain meds," Chris said highly amused. "Now this is definitely worth coming here with you."

"I totally tricked him into giving me some. Boys are so stupid and easy to fool." She walked a little bit and stumbled and would have fell if if weren't for Chris catching her. "Oh Chris! You're here too! You used to annoy me a lot too! But I like you now. Sometimes. Not all the time. Just a little bit. You still annoy me like Johnny does!"

"Stop calling me that," John said before turning his attention to Chris. "We should probably get her in the car so we could get her home."

"Good idea," Chris nodded before the two began to do what John just said.

The three teens had been in the car for ten minutes now and had another few minutes to go before they got to Lita's house.

"I'm bored," Lita announced to the two in the front from the backseat. "Tell me a story."

"There once was a man in Nantucket," Chris began to say bit was interrupted by Lita groaning.

"No! Something that's actually funny." Neither of the other two said nothing and it was quiet for the next couple of minutes before she spoke up again.

"You wanna know a secret?" She asked John who she was staring at which he found pretty weird.

"Sure," John replied for the drivers seat. He was pretty surprised by what she revealed to him.

"I think you're really cute," she whispered and began giggling for no reason whatsoever. Her whisper wasn't low enough that the other two couldn't hear her, so they definitely heard what she just said.

"Damn it," Chris said after he got over what Lita just said. "She likes you like a friend now and thinks you're 'really cute'. You're gonna win the second part." He said it all as low as possible so Lita wouldn't be able to hear him, but John could.

John ignored him and was about to say something to Lita, but that was when she moved forward a bit and turned the music on louder.

"I love this!" She exclaimed before she started to sing, or maybe rap, along with the music.

"Take my phone and record this," John said to Chris who did as he was asked. "She's never going to believe she was rapping along with Eminem."

She began to rap along with 'Lose Yourself' by Eminem missing some of the words but surprisingly getting most of them correct. Chris wasn't regretting joining John at the game anymore. This was entertaining.

"Dude. Is she snoring?" John asked as he glanced through the rear-view mirror to see Lita fell asleep halfway through the rap.

"This is awesome," Chris laughed while recording for a little while longer before he stopped.

Another couple of minutes passed by until they finally arrived to Lita's house.

"Should we wake her up?" John asked Chris as the two looked in the backseat.

Chris shrugged. "Just carry her inside or something. Maybe she's still loopy. As entertaining as that was, I really don't want to go through that again."

"Why do I have to carry her?"

Chris smirked before he answered his friend. "Because I'm going to love to see Randy's reaction if he sees this."

"Dumbass," John muttered under his breath.

"I'm gonna go knock on the door and explain to her mom, dad, or whoever answers what happened," Chris said before he walked to the front door so he could do as he said.

John carefully took her in his arms so he wouldn't wake up because he knew she would probably jump to conclusions, not like what was going on, get pissed off, and start yelling for no reason which was something he was trying to avoid. Plus, he was trying hard not to drop her on the ground as well.

"You smell really good," he heard her mumble. He looked down and saw her eyes were still closed so she was still out of it and probably didn't even know who she was talking to. "You always smell good." The next words that came out of her mouth made him think even more that she was definitely talking to him. "Especially at the dance." She kept surprising him. First she told him he was 'really cute' and now she said he 'smelled really good'. Yea, the painkillers were definitely strong and got her.

John got into Lita's house and overheard Chris tell her mom and Randy what went down at the game and how she took one too many pills which messed her up and caused her to be knocked out at the moment.

John followed Randy upstairs to Lita's room as Chris answered the questions Lita's mom asked to the best of his abilities.

"Um thanks," Randy said when they were outside of Lita's room after she was settled down in her bed.

John waved it off. "It's not a big deal. Victoria was too busy playing in the game. Plus she went with the team on the bus so it wasn't like she could have done anything." He smirked before he continued. "And Carlito was the only other person who looked like he was going to volunteer bringing her here and she really didn't want to come with him."

"Yea, thanks for not letting that happen."

"I made a video of her all loopy," John said breaking the awkward moment of silence that fell after Randy's last statement. The two had finally made their way downstairs. Chris was already waiting in the car for John so they could leave. "She was rapping."

Randy arched a brow. "Really? I wanna see."

John nodded. "I'll text it to you, but just don't show her before I can. I wanna show her."

Randy shrugged. "Whatever. That's only fair."

"Here," John said handing his phone to Randy, "put your number in there." Randy took the phone and did as he was told before giving it back to John who then sent him the video. "All sent."

"Great. I can't wait to see her make a fool of herself."

"You'll enjoy it," John replied. "Gotta go," he said before he could join Chris in the car. "See ya tomorrow."

John dropped off Chris before he finally went home. He was utterly confused by all the interactions with both Orton twins that day. Sure he and Randy were getting along better now, only occasionally getting into their petty little arguments. But he thought it was weird how Randy didn't seem the slightest pissed to see Lita in his arms even though John was helping his sister.

And then going into Lita's room to see a picture of him and her from homecoming on her wall was really weird. There were other pictures that contained other friends and her family as well, but he was shocked to see a picture of him there too. As if he wasn't already surprised by what she said to him earlier even if it was on the influence of drugs. He felt like he was in the twilight zone.

* * *

John was finishing up his homework a couple of hours later when he received a call. He looked down at his phone and saw it was Lita who called which made him laugh. He had a god idea what this was about.

"Hey Eminem," he laughed as he answered the phone. "Maybe I should just call you Skittles since Eminem is taken already."

"Shut up," Lita scowled. "I don't appreciate you making a video of me without my knowledge. That is a crime. You invaded my privacy."

John rolled his eyes. "You were in my car so I didn't invade your privacy."

"You made a video of me without my knowledge," she repeated, "and that is a crime. I can have you arrested."

"Go ahead. Nothing's gonna happen. You were in my car and therefore you had no privacy."

"Actually, it's a crime in this state to record someone without their knowledge."

"I don't care"

"You know what? Just shut up and don't show anyone anything unless you want to die because that will happen."

"Sorry," John shook his head, "no can do. Bio is going to be so much fun tomorrow. You think Mr. Regal will let me show everyone on the screen?"

"I'm going to kill you if you show that to anyone. It was the drugs. They're a horrible influence on ones brain. Which makes me think you're doing them."

John rolled his eyes at her last statement. "Maybe you shouldn't have taken strong meds when Motrin could have done the job just as well."

"Shut up!" Lita was about to hang up, but she remembered to ask him something else. "Did I do or say anything else stupid?"

"What?"

"After I took the medicine. Did I do anything else stupid other than rapping with Eminem?"

John thought about it for a moment. He didn't know whether or not he wanted her to know what she said. Maybe he would just save the information for another time and the video was enough for now. "No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yea. You just were talking too much and too hyper. You told Chris you don't like him that much, just a little bit. That was funny."

"It's not that bad. It's not like he didn't already know how I felt about him. Both of you are annoying."

"Thanks," he muttered sarcastically. "How's your ankle?" He asked before she could hang up.

"Still hurts. Look, just remember, you show anyone the video and you'll be swimming with the fishes soon." He heard a dial tone soon after and began to laugh. He was going to have fun with this video at school tomorrow.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Special thanks to therealchamps, my time is now, kay, and Bajor10. Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)**

**I liked writing loopy Lita. That was fun. It was inspired by a scene in **_**One Tree Hill.**_


	11. Chapter 11

John was looking around the cafeteria at school the following Friday during the lunch period. He was looking for a certain someone who didn't show up the past two days. He knew Lita was there today since they did have two classes together already that day. He had some business to take care of and he rather the redhead be there when he did it. He didn't show anyone the video of Lita hopped up pain medication earlier that week because she was a no show to school yesterday and the day before that, but he wanted to do it now. It was fun when he showed some people earlier that day in the first two classes, so he was definitely looking forward to this.

John smirked as he made his way over to the usual table he saw Lita sitting at with some of her friends who hadn't seen the video yet. He didn't see Edge sitting there, but he saw the other teen a couple of minutes ago so he knew he was going to be there soon enough.

"Hey Red," John said as he sat his tray on the empty space next to Lita and sat down next to her.

Lita rolled her eyes, not bothering to look at John as she spoke. "Your friends didn't want you so you came to bother me? Well guess what? I don't want you either."

"You know you do. You can't get enough of me."

"Right. Keep telling yourself that Cena."

"I do have a name FYI."

"As do I," Lita began to say as she finally decided to face him. "And Red is nowhere in my name unlike Cena. So deal with it, Cena."

"I always thought Red was your middle name."

Lita rolled her eyes but said nothing as she turned her attention back to her lunch.

"Hey Trish, Stephanie," John began to say to the two who looked up at him giving him a questionable look so he took that as a hint to continue. "You two wanna see something funny?"

"No!" Lita replied for her friends.

"Trish was late to Spanish so she missed seeing the video. I'm pretty sure she feels left out. And I don't think Stephanie wants to wait until last period."

"Do you want me to take these," Lita said gesturing to the crutches on one side, "and bash you in the head with them repeatedly? If so, show them the video and it can be arranged."

"Chill out," John said before continuing with a smirk on his face. "I'm just showing them a video of this new rapper named Skittles. You heard of her?"

Lita glared at him and wanted to do nothing more than to slap that smirk off his face. "I'm planning a slow and painful death for you."

"Yea. Whatever that's great," John said as he looked through his phone and brought up the video so he could show Trish and Stephanie who immediately began laughing once they heard Lita singing, rapping, or whatever it was she was doing.

"Was Skittles drunk?" The blonde asked through laughter. "This is so funny!"

Stephanie nodded in agreement. "You should put this on YouTube."

"No!" Lita shouted, glaring at her friend. "Don't give him any ideas!"

"Oh it's going up. I just need to make an account," John replied and began laughing at the terrified look on the redheads face.

"You can always use mine," a still laughing Trish suggested. "I don't mind. In fact, I'll love it."

John shook his head. "Na. I'll get to it. Trust me."

"Where the hell is Edge?" Lita asked as she looked around the crowded area while Trish and Stephanie were watching the video all over again. "I can get him to beat the crap out of you. I could do that myself but I think I'll wait until my ankle is fully healed so it won't slow me down."

John decided to ignore her statement and began to answer her question. "I saw him around a few minutes ago. He was talking to- Ow," he said when he felt a kick on his leg.

"Oh sorry. I was swinging my legs and I didn't realize how close I was to hitting you," Trish said as she looked up from his phone.

"Okay. Well, you're really close so calm that down," John replied as Trish returned her attention back to the video and began laughing again, it was back at the part when Lita was snoring. "Like I was saying, I saw him talking to- Ow," he said once again when he felt another kick.

"Sorry," Trish repeated as she got up from the table and handed John his phone. "I'm gonna get a soda. Anyone want one?" The others shook their head. "Okay. Li, come with me. I don't want to go alone."

"Um, why?"

"Because I don't want to."

"I'm just going to slow you down and I hate using these crutches. Take Steph."

"She's coming too."

"Am I?" Stephanie asked confused. She had a feeling Trish was up to something, she just didn't know what.

"Yes. Lita is cripple. We both need to help her move," Trish answered Stephanie before returning her attention to Lita. "You're cripple. People will let us cut in line if the line at the vending machines is long."

"Wow. Whatever," Lita said as she got up from where she was sitting and went with Trish to get a soda.

"Why did Trish keep kicking me? I know it wasn't an accident." John asked Christian when the girls were out of sight.

"Because you're stupid and you can't take a hint," Christian said. "You can't tell Li you saw Edge with Torrie because she'll get pissed."

"Why?" John asked confused. "I mean, I know Red doesn't like Torrie because of Stacy, but why does it matter if Edge was talking to her?"

"You kind of just answered your own question right there."

"So Edge can't be friends with Torrie because she's friends with Stacy who Red hates and vice versa?"

"Not really. There's more to that."

"Oh," John said as it hit him. "Since when have Edge and Torrie been going out?"

"Beginning of August," Christian answered. "You can't tell anyone. Only me, Trish, and Candice know. Torrie didn't even tell Stacy because she thinks she'll tell Lita and just ruin everything for no reason. She knows Lita knows about her, Candice, and Stacy being the ones to spray those words on Lita's locker, but she didn't want to do it. Well, at least that's what she said. She's just trying not to cause problems between Lita and Edge because she knows how Lita's going to react which is why the both of them agreed to keep it a secret for now."

"Oh," was all John said after Christians little story. He couldn't help but think how good it was to finally be one hundred percent sure that Edge wouldn't be a problem for him to get to the second part of the bet. But now he was wondering if Christian was.

"What about you? Are you seeing anyone?"

"If this is your way of asking me out, then you should know I don't go that way. I'm not gay."

John rolled his eyes. "Neither am I."

"You don't need to worry about me getting in the way of whatever you're trying to do with Li," Christian said getting right to the point. He wasn't stupid so he knew why John was asking that question. He saw the look of relief and happiness on Johns face when he told him about Edge and Torrie. "She's a good friend of mine, so I'm just going to tell you not to do anything stupid. You'll have to worry about Randy and possibly Edge beating the crap out of you if you do do something dumb."

"Why Edge?"

Christian rolled his eyes. "You don't have to worry about Edge getting in the way either. They both have verbally expressed a billion of times how disturbed they are when people assume they're in a relationship or have a crush on one another or something like that. People of the opposite sex can be close without it meaning anything. They're a pretty great example of that."

John simply nodded, opting not to say anything which didn't matter because Edge finally showed up with Jeff and Chris who decided to join the two at the table when they saw John there. It didn't take long for the three girls to rejoin them.

"No one let the cripple cut line," Trish complained as she took her seat. "How rude are these idiots?"

Lita rolled her eyes as she took her seat. "Not as rude as you for using the word 'cripple'."

"I can call you that because you're my bestfriend. I wouldn't call anyone else that."

"This table is starting to get crowded," Lita said as she looked around and saw Jeff and Chris were there as well. "I vote Cena gets lost."

"We can get lost together," John innocently suggested.

"Oh, don't you wish."

"Duh, otherwise I wouldn't have said it."

Lita decided to ignore him as she turned her attention to Edge. "Where were you? What took you so long."

"I had to talk to my teacher after class," Edge lied which Lita easily brought. "So how was the bio test? I know that's the only reason you came to school today," he said as a way to change the subject.

"I caught her cheating off of me," John said before Lita could say anything.

"It was fine," Lita said opting to ignore John.

"She only came to school today so she could convince her mom her ankle is fine which means she's okay to go to the Halloween party tonight," Trish said which was the truth. Lita missed school the past two days because her ankle was really bothering her. It was better today even though she would have rather missed school if it weren't for the test and the fact that she knew her mom would prevent her from going to the Halloween party if she stayed at home another day. Her mom would just say that if she wasn't okay enough to go to school, then she shouldn't be okay enough to go to the party.

"Halloween is the best holiday. I'm not about to stay home."

"It's not a holiday," Chris spoke up for the first time since joining the table.

"Shut up," Lita said before speaking to Edge. "We'll leave around eleven to go to the Old Western Burial Grave. Dad's on a business trip and it's easy to get past mom after curfew so I'll be fine. You good for that?" Edge simply nodded.

"You're going to drive almost an hour just to go there?"

"No," Edge answered before Lita could. "Where's your sense of timing? Twenty minutes, maybe thirty minutes at most. We have done this every year since my cousin took us with her friends a few years ago."

"We took the bus the one year when she was off to college when neither of us drove," Lita added. "It's our tradition now."

"Yea, they're pretty serious about it," Jeff began to say as he finally broke his silence. "They don't let anyone else join. I begged Li to take me last year but she said no."

"Speaking of the Halloween party," Trish started to say as she addressed Lita, "I have our costumes all ready! We're going to have the best costumes!"

"What is it?" Stephanie asked. "And why couldn't you make me one?"

"Because you didn't ask. But neither did Li. Anyways, one is an Angel and one is the Devil."

"Red's gotta be the devil," John laughed. "It fits her. There's no way she could pass as an Angel."

"I'm going to take you to hell with me."

"As long as we're going together."

"Ugh," Lita groaned. "Stop being annoying."

"You know, I think you should go as your alter ego-"

"Beat him up now," Lita said interrupting John as she looked at Edge. "You can totally take him."

"Here's Skittles debut," John said handing Edge his phone. "Watch it together or pass it around for those who haven't seen it yet."

"Why does Randy have a different lunch period?" Lita asked to no one in particular as she heard her voice coming out the phone. "He would've beat up John for me."

"I don't think so Red," John shook his head. "He loved the video. He even has a copy."

"I hate you."

"Is that why you have a picture of me in your room?"

"When were you in my room?" Lita asked confused.

"He took you in there," Chris replied. "You fell asleep in the car so he decided he wanted to carry you."

"No. You suggested I do that."

"You just needed an excuse to touch her."

"I'm getting very disturbed by this conversation," Lita said. "Stop it."

"You told me I smell good," John said as he ignored Lita.

"I knew it. She so likes him," Trish whispered to Stephanie which went unheard by the everyone else.

"She just told him he smells good," Stephanie whispered back. "That doesn't mean anything."

"Yes it does," Trish insisted. "I know it does."

"So why do you have a picture of me on your wall?" John asked once again.

"First, I was high on meds so obviously I would say something stupid I didn't mean. I could always take that picture down if it bothers you that much."

"You didn't answer my question."

Lita rolled her eyes. "I didn't put it up there, Trish did."

"That's the truth," Trish said. "But you didn't take it down. Why didn't you take it down?"

"There's going to be an empty space because there's nothing else to replace it with. Now leave me alone."

"I want a copy of this too," Edge said through laughter as he handed back John's phone to him. "I can always go back to it and watch it if I need something to laugh at."

"It'll be on the Internet soon," Stephanie chimed in. "It'll always be there now."

Edge laughed. "Even better."

"I don't have any friends," Lita said before getting up from where she was seated.

"Where are you going?" Jeff asked.

"There's only a couple of minutes before the bell rings. I need to get to class and out of the hallways before I get trampled."

"Alright," Jeff said as he got up. "I'll come with you and help you with your bag since we have the same class."

"Thanks." Jeff was about to pick up both of their trays and throw the trash out so he could put the trays back in their spots, but Lita stopped him. "Let one of them do it. They could do that much for being assholes." Jeff said nothing as he helped her out and they were soon gone.

The bell rang a couple of minutes later so everyone else began to head to their next class. John felt his phone vibrate while he was walking to his next class. He took the phone out of his pocket and saw he received a text from Jeff. He had a feeling he knew what this was about before he even read it. He still decided to open up the message and read what it said which confirmed his suspicions. _'Stop being a douche bag. You still have time to back out of this. Nothing good can come out of this. Don't do it.'_ _Not gonna happen,_ John thought to himself as he put his phone back in his pocket. He did think of Lita as a friend regardless of how they got there with the bet, but he wasn't about to back out now especially when he thought he was close to getting to the second part. He really didn't think anything bad would come out of this.

* * *

"This is boring," Lita said as she observed the other party goers from her seat. Most of them were dancing, eating, or playing some cheesy games. "This used to be fun."

"It is fun," Trish said from next to Lita. "You should get up and do something."

"My ankle hurts. I just took some Tylenol a few minutes ago. Just waiting for that to kick in and then it'll be time to go to the burial ground."

"Aren't you sick of that? This would be your fifth year going there."

"That's the point of a tradition, you make a yearly thing. Duh blondie. Plus, rumor has it that Edgar Allan Poe's spirit lingers around there. How cool is that?"

"Creepy is more like the word."

"It actually is spooky sometimes. We went there on his death anniversary earlier this month. I heard a voice saying the name Virginia over and over again. I'm telling you, it was him. He's pining for his love. Who was his cousin. That he married when she was thirteen and he was fourteen years older than her. Okay, that's really disgusting."

"Why do you know so much about him?"

"The better question is why don't you? This is Baltimore. This city, no this whole state is obsessed with him. They even named their football team after his poem. There is no school that doesn't overly obsess about him. We have learned way too much about him over the years not to remember anything about him."

Trish shrugged. "I don't find him interesting."

"I hope his spirit comes here and haunts you."

Trish rolled her eyes at that. "Shut up."

"So I knew I was always right when I used to call you the redheaded devil," John said when he randomly showed up near the two girls.

"Great," Trish said as she got up. "John can keep you company. I'm gonna go see what everyone else is doing."

"I didn't stop you before."

"I know. I just didn't want to leave you alone." With that said, Trish left leaving the two by themselves.

"Nice wig," John said as he occupied the seat which was previously taken by Trish. "You're hair is already red, did you really need a wig?"

"Ask Trish. Nice costume. You look creepy just like Joker. So I guess it didn't take much effort for you to get like that."

"Actually, the paint took forever."

"I'm sure they sell masks but the paint gives it a better look. What time is it?"

"Ten thirty," John replied after he took his phone out so he could answer her question.

"Close enough to eleven. I'm bored. I think it's time to find Edge so we can leave. I'm really hoping there are so many spirits around there today," Lita said as she got up from where she was sitting.

"You're mentally disturbed," John replied as he got up and helped her because she lost her balance and almost fell.

"I hate these damn things. You can stop touching me now. I can walk by myself. I don't need your help."

"There are many people around here and you almost fell when there wasn't a crowd around us so I think I'll help you."

"Fine. Just don't touch me."

The two then made there way around the party looking for Edge. It didn't take long for them to spot him, but he wasn't alone. "What is he doing with her?" Lita asked John when she saw Edge with Torrie. They were looking awfully close together and that threw her off.

"I don't know," John lied. For two people who wanted to keep their relationship a secret, they were sure doing a poor job about it.

"You're lying," Lita said when she looked back at John and away from the two blondes. "You know something."

"Why would I know something?" John said as he continued with the charade. "He's your best-friend, not mine."

Lita said nothing as she looked back at Torrie and Edge who happened to do the same thing at the moment. Edge looked like he got caught doing something he shouldn't be doing which gave away to Lita there was definitely something going on with him and Torrie.

"Hey Li," Edge said when he walked up to her and was now standing right in front of her. He was about to say more, but she beat him to it.

Lita shook her head. "I have to go. You have fun here and I'm just going to leave."

"But we're supposed to go to the burial grounds now."

Lita shook her head as she repeated her earlier words. "I have to go. You have fun with her and I'm just going to leave."

"You're kidding, right?"

Lita had to bite her tongue from saying what she was actually thinking, but failed. "Are you serious right now? Are you freaking kidding me? That's the real question. Torrie? Really?" Lita asked giving the blonde girl in question, who looked really uncomfortable, a dirty look.

"I know you don't like Stacy, but that doesn't give you a reason to not like Torrie."

"Are you... I can't... She's Stacy's minion! She's been terrorizing me since middle school!" Lita raising her voice caught the attention of those around and now there was a crowd watching the scene unfold.

"Lita, I'm sorry. I never wanted-"

"Stop talking!" Lita interrupted Torrie, sending her a dirty glance before returning her attention back to her so-called best-friend. "I'm gonna go because, trust me when I say this, you don't want to hear what I'm thinking." She was about to leave, but that's when she heard Edge speak.

"I don't know what your problem is, but Torrie did nothing to you. I know she had a hand to play in with the spraying of your locker-"

"Among other things, yes."

"-but she is trying to apologize to you now and you're just overreacting."

"Lita, I really am sorry," Torrie said before Lita had a chance to respond to her friend as she tried to apologize once again. "I know I was horrible to you, but I really am sorry. Maybe we can just start all over."

"No thanks," Lita shook her head. "I'm not interested. Once Stacy's minion, always Stacy's minion." Edge was about to say something, but Lita continued, addressing him this time. "I can't believe you would align yourself with the enemy."

Edge rolled his eyes. "For the last time, neither me nor Torrie have anything to do with your and Stacy's mess so just leave us out of it."

"Torrie helped Stacy with the little tasks of ruining my life so yea, she has everything to do with that!"

"Stop being over dramatic."

"We're done here," Lita said as she walked away, but not before asking John if he had no problem to drop her off home.

* * *

"What are we doing here?" Lita asked fifteen minutes later when John pulled up to a nearby cemetery.

"Well, you were excited about going to the burial ground and that obviously isn't going to happen so I thought why not bring you here."

"Thanks, but it's not the same for many reasons. It's nowhere near being as spooky as the one in the City. Can you just take me home?"

"You sure you don't want to just walk around here or whatever you and Edge do at the burial ground."

Lita nodded. "Positive. There's probably not many spirits running around here."

"Alright," John said as he started to drive off. "I know you probably don't want to talk about it, but you kinda crossed the line. And Edge was right, you were over dramatic. Like I can get why you don't like Torrie, but he does. He obviously sees something in her and she did look like she felt bad for helping Stacy terrorize you as you say."

Lita let out a sigh as she looked out the window. "I know."

"So then why didn't you try and rectify the issue back there?"

"Because I was stupid and I overreacted and I'm still mad that he kept this a secret for me."

"Well now you know why."

Lita shrugged. "I guess. I still blame them for ruining my holiday."

"Halloween isn't a holiday."

"It is for me so shut up." John said nothing in reply as he continued to drive.

"Thanks for this," Lita said when the duo arrived to her house almost an hour later. "The candy was a really good idea." They made a pit stop to a convenience store where they purchased a lot of candy with John claiming that would make her feel better about all that happened earlier that night.

"No problem. I'll see you on Monday?"

"I guess," Lita replied as she unlocked the front door of her house. "Bye." _Hm,_ she thought to herself when she was finally inside the house, _he's really not that bad after all. He's getting nicer. Kinda creepy, but it's a nice change._

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	12. Chapter 12

A couple weeks had passed by since Lita and Edge's little fall out at the Halloween Party. Lita even admitted to John she was stupid for overreacting, but that didn't mean she was going admit it to Edge. The two weren't on speaking terms because the redhead had been avoiding the blonde who, as a result, decided to just let her be because he knew she was aware that she acting dramatic and would get over it soon enough. She knew this wasn't the way she should be handling all of it when she overreacted in the first place, but she was stubborn and didn't want to admit she was being irrational and made a stupid mistake in the first place.

But they weren't able to avoid each other altogether since they did have a couple of classes together and they had the group project for Philosophy to work on. Their group debate was scheduled to be the last day before Thanksgiving break which was the following Tuesday. They had been getting together along with the other two members of the group who were playing peace maker between the two when it was originally thought Edge and Stephanie would be playing mediator between Lita and John who were getting closer during the last couple of weeks or so.

Their little group meetings never went smoothly. It was Lita and Stephanie arguing one side for euthanasia and Edge and John arguing the other side against assisted suicide. The two best-friends got into a heated discussion for no reason whatsoever every time they met to plan out the debate so their wouldn't be any surprise arguments announced during the actual presentation part of the debate. Their heated discussions were based on euthanasia, but they, along with the other two group members, knew it had nothing to do with that topic and it had a lot to do with their petty little fight.

Lita wanted to apologize to Edge for the way she acted so they could get over it and be back to normal, but it felt like whenever she actually got the courage to admit she was in the wrong, she saw him with Torrie and that just pissed her off again although she didn't think she had any reason or right to be angry about that. The redhead concluded she would never like her blonde friends girlfriend, but that didn't mean she wanted that to ruin her relationship with her best-friend.

John was thankful for Lita's stubbornness because it felt like he was benefiting a lot from her fight with Edge and her reluctance to admit her mistake of overreacting at the party. Torrie and Edge started started to sit together during their lunch period since their relationship was now in the open and there was no way Lita was about to join them. The Monday following the party Lita decided she just wanted to be alone and decided to sit outside even though it was a little chilly and John chose to join her although he wasn't thinking about the bet when he did that. He actually did like hanging out with her, the fact that it was benefiting him bet wise was just a plus. After that first time, it wasn't unusual for their friends to find them alone together during the lunch period.

Lita wasn't the only Orton who John was getting along with better even though it was for two completely different reasons and he could see him and Randy going back to their normal selves after they got what they wanted. The two teens still found themselves engaged in arguments every now and then, but it was never something big like before. John and Randy put aside their differences long enough for the football team to make it to the State Championship game.

"So Li, are you going to give John a congratulatory kiss if they win?" Stephanie randomly decided to ask the redheaded teen who was sitting right next to her at the stadium that Friday evening during the State Championship game. They were watching the game along with Victoria, Jeff, Christian, and Edge. Jeff was interested in her answer because Chris and John made a small addition into their bets which John could win twenty bucks if he kissed Lita without her reacting negatively. He was getting even more irritated with his cousin for going along the whole thing with Chris in the first place. He knew John actually did see Lita as a friend so he thought that would mean the whole bet would be called off, but John was dead set on proving Chris wrong. Jeff thought they were pretty stupid because John nor Chris actually thought it was possible for Lita to get hurt or angry if the truth came out.

"Where did that come from?" Lita asked confused and annoyed as she turned her attention to the brunette. "Why would I do that?"

"I don't know," Stephanie shrugged. "Maybe because you like him," she innocently suggested.

"He's my friend-"

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "You know that's not what I meant."

"Have you been smoking with Rob? Are you high right now?"

"So is that a yes?"

Lita simple gave Stephanie a look like she was crazy as she decided to ignore her friend. She returned her attention back to the game before glancing over at Victoria who was sitting on Stephanie's other side. "You know, this could have been us if you girls didn't lose in the first round," she said referring to the fact that the volleyball team got eliminated on the first round of the playoffs. "The team is so hopeless without me."

Victoria rolled her eyes at her friend. "It was Overlea, we would've lost even if you were playing too. One player doesn't make the team."

"We beat them before. Plus, I'm the best player on that team."

"Not the best," Jeff began to say, quickly adding more when he saw the glare Lita was sending his way. "Maybe one of the top players on the team, but Molly was the best."

Lita sighed. "True. But I could have made a difference."

Victoria shrugged. "Maybe so, but you were cripple so it doesn't matter."

"I don't need the crutches anymore and I still would have been help even now even though it's still not properly fully healed yet."

"Or you just would have made your ankle worse."

"Let's get back to the point," Stephanie spoke up once again before Lita could reply to Victoria, "Are you going to congratulate John by kissing him if they win? Or you could still kiss him if they lose and make him feel better."

"Ugh," Lita groaned in frustration. "Just because Trish is out there," she said gesturing to a spot on the sidelines where the cheerleaders were, "doesn't mean you have to take her spot and annoy me. Please shut up."

"Just pretend you're back in middle school and you'll have no problem kissing him like the first time. Pretend you have this crush on him again even though I don't think you're going to have a problem because-"

"What?" All three guys who were present with them asked in unison with Jeff continuing. "What did you just say?"

_Oh shit,_ Stephanie thought to herself when she realized what she just said aloud. "Did you know that dolphins are just gay sharks?" Everyone looked like she was crazy. She looked over at an irritated Lita and mouthed an apology before getting up so she could leave. "I'll be right back."

"You suck," Lita said glaring at her retreating friend.

"What was she talking about?" Christian asked after Stephanie was gone from view.

"Stephanie was wrong, this game isn't boring," Lita said ignoring Christian's question. "You guys think they'll pull it off? There's like ten minutes left and they're losing by nine. That's enough time, right?"

"What was Stephanie talking about?" Jeff asked.

"I don't know, but I'm pretty sure she was joking. I think she heard the whole dolphins being gay sharks on tv."

Jeff rolled his eyes. "I know you know that's not what I was talking about. You used to have a crush on John?"

"Middle school was such a long time ago," Lita began to answer as she continued to watch the game, "I was young and stupid. Now shut up about it." Edge was pretty silent after the revelation even though he wanted to ask her something, he just didn't think the timing was right. Christian was about to say something, but Lita beat him to it. "Everyone. That applies to everyone."

"This can't be good," Jeff muttered under his breath. He didn't think it was possible that the whole bet could get even worse, but that's exactly what he thought was happening considering what Stephanie just let slip.

"What?" Lita questioned as she turned her attention to Jeff who was trying to think of something to say.

"The game," he lied, gesturing to the field knowing that was believable. "Randy just got hit hard."

"Oh," Lita said returning her attention to the field. "No he didn't. He got up easily. He's fine."

"Yea, it just looked really hard for a second."

Lita said nothing in response as they all continued to watch the game in silence. Stephanie finally showed up a little bit before the game ended. She apologized to Lita once again for accidentally revealing the truth, but Lita brought up the fact that middle school was so long ago so none of that mattered now. She added she would appreciate it if none of them would tell John anything because his ego would just get bigger even though it was years ago.

* * *

"So now that you guys won and the season is over, are you and Randy gonna start fighting again or is he your new best-friend?" Chris asked John the next day at the party they were celebrating the State Championship game at.

John rolled his eyes. "We'll see."

"You two have been acting all buddy buddy-"

"So we could win," John interrupted. "Which we did. He was getting on my nerves though so don't hold your breath."

"I'm sure you were getting on his nerves too. I did hear him complaining about you a little," Chris said before he changed the subject. "So you know you're two weeks to win the kissing Lita bet is up today."

"I know," John nodded. "I'm not worried. I got this."

"I have to be nearby so I can see that it actually happened. She can't slap you or yell at you-"

"I know, I know, I know, I know. And like I said, I got this."

"I'm hoping she slaps you."

John rolled his eyes once again. "That's not gonna happen. She might yell, but I don't think she'll slap me."

"I'm still hoping she does." Chris was just going to leave it at that, but then he saw Lita come into view near them which caused him to smirk. "She's right there and she has a cup in her hand so she might have been drinking so now's your chance."

"I could get her to kiss me either way."

"You're cocky."

"Nope," John began to say as he walked away from Chris and towards Lita, "just confident."

"Hey Red," John said once he was standing right next to Lita.

"This party is boring," Lita said before taking a sip from her cup.

"You think all of them are boring."

"Well, this one is particularly lame. I don't understand why Trish dragged me here if she was going to run off with Jeff."

"Where are they?"

"I don't know," Lita shrugged. "Around here somewhere."

It was quiet for a while between the two. John looked around and saw Randy was near them and looking right at them. He returned his attention back to Lita with a smirk on his face. "Wanna have some fun?"

Lita arched a brow. "How?"

"Here's the thing. Chris said I couldn't kiss you without you lashing out on me and well, I want to prove him wrong. He put twenty bucks on the line to make it interesting." John thought he would just tell Lita the truth because he thought that was the only way he could get her to actually not yell at him or even hit him.

"What?" Lita asked after she registered what John just said. She was a little buzzed, she wanted to make sure she wasn't just hearing things. "Did you just say you wanted me to kiss you so you can win twenty bucks?"

John nodded. "Yea."

"You're an asshole, but okay."

"Really?" John asked surprised. He thought it was going to take longer to convince her to go through with this, but it didn't take long at all.

"Randy keeps looking over here every now and then. It's fun to piss him off sometimes. Why do you think I agreed to get along with you in the first place? Because I knew it would bug him. But I actually kinda like you sometimes so I guess it worked out."

"You used me?" John feigned hurt.

Lita rolled her eyes. "At least I told you. Get over it. Look, just make the kiss short and simple otherwise you won't get twenty bucks because I will kill you. Promise you won't do anything stupid?"

John rolled his eyes. "Yea, I promise. So-"

"One more thing," Lita said interrupting him before he could get any further.

"What?"

"I want the twenty."

John shook his head. "Not the full. I'll give you ten."

"What am I going to do with ten bucks? Go to the dollar store and buy ten things? Go see a movie by myself?"

"Or I could keep the twenty and we could go see a movie together," John innocently suggested even though he knew what her answer was going to be.

"This is only my first cup," she said gesturing to said object in her hand, "so I'm not drunk to agree with that. Neither am I planning on getting drunk, so maybe you can try next time I'm high on meds."

John rolled his eyes. "Fine, you get ten for helping me."

"Is Randy looking?"

John looked around the room for the answer. "Yup." _So is Chris._

"Great. Let's get this over with."

"Wow. That's a really nice way to-"

"Shut up unless you want me to change my mind."

John rolled his eyes as he moved closer to the redhead with their lips meeting soon after that. He planned on keeping the kiss short and simple like he promised, but he couldn't help himself and the kiss went longer than planned.

"I want my ten bucks soon," Lita said after the kiss ended. At least she didn't slap him for extending the kiss. It was almost like she didn't care.

John looked behind Lita and saw a visibly irritated Randy walk away which made him laugh. "Randy looks annoyed." Neither of them noticed, but a certain someone else was looking at them as well and he was pissed and annoyed even more than Randy.

"That's good." She was about to take a sip of her drink but noticed it was empty. "All gone. I need some more."

"I thought you said you didn't want to get drunk."

"Two cups of beer won't get me drunk. Almost there but it won't. It'll be my last cup. I'll be fine." With that said, she left so she could fill up her cup one last time, leaving John by himself until Chris showed up next to him.

"How did she not hit you?" Chris asked surprised.

"I told her the truth. You didn't say that was against the rules. I need two tens since she said she wanted half for helping me out."

Chris let out a sigh. "Fine," he said as he took two ten dollar bills out of his pocket and handed it to John who took it and put it in his pocket.

"No more additional little bets like this. She looked a little annoyed when I told her it was kind of a bet."

"You wanna back out of the others?"

John shook his head. "Na. It's not like she's going to find out. But I'm not doing the third one so don't expect that."

"Because you know you can't get that one done."

"Or more like because that one takes it too far."

"Wuss."

"Shut up."

On the other side of the house where the party was taking place, Lita was filling up her cup one last time.

"Hey Li!" Lita heard Trish call out to her which made her look away for a moment. That's when a certain someone who was angry when he saw Lita and John kiss walked passed her and decided to slip something into her cup because she wasn't paying attention.

"You dragged me to this party but you totally left me hanging so you could go make out with some guy."

"Sorry, but not some guy. Anyways, how many cups is that?" Trish asked pointing to the cup which was back right in front of Lita. "I know my parents will most likely be sleeping when we get home, but I don't need to take you home drunk in case they do wake up."

Lita rolled her eyes. "Chill out. Two cups isn't going to do anything."

"Alright."

"Are we ready to leave?"

"Definitely not. You're going home with me and my parents won't know when we get home so we can stay out a bit longer."

"Yippee," Lita replied sarcastically. "This party is boring."

"You always say that."

"Well, it's the truth. Not all of us go find a corner and make out with someone."

"Yes because some of us just do it in the middle of the room."

"Oh. I guess you saw that."

Trish nodded enthusiastically. "Yup! Does this mean I win the bet?"

"No, it just means I got to mess with Randy and I won ten bucks." Trish gave a questioning look to Lita who decided to tell the blonde about the truth behind the kiss.

"Aw! And you jumped to the chance to help him."

"Again, I only did that because I got to mess with Randy which worked because John said he looked annoyed and I'm going to get ten bucks out of it."

"Just admit you like him-" Trish was about to say more but Lita interrupted her.

"I'm going to leave you now. Come find me when you're ready to leave." With that said, Lita left.

Lita just walked around the house for a few minutes, finishing her drink, before she started to feel dizzy and a little drowsy. She looked for a place where there was no one around so she could just sit down and get herself together. She remembered this was Dave's house so she decided to go upstairs thinking that he wouldn't mind. Little did she know, someone was following her every move and followed her up the stairs inside one of the rooms.

The intruder entered the room and shut the door behind him. The noise of the door closing made Lita look up from where she was seated. She left the door a little open so was surprised to see it closed as well as to see someone else in the room.

"Carlito?" She asked confused. "What are you doing here?"

"You know, you really hurt me tonight," he said ignoring her question as he walked towards her. "How could you kiss John like that, I thought we had something?"

"What are you talking about? You're not even my friend."

"Wrong answer," Carlito said as he walked closer to her which made her get up from the bed and walk to the door so she could leave. She was starting to feel creeped out by him.

"I think I'm gonna go back downstairs. Trish said she wanted to leave." She didn't get to far because she was still a bit dizzy and out of it when Carlito grabbed her by the wrist as a way to stop her.

Carlito shook his head. "I don't think so." He pulled her closer to himself and then pushed her hard on the bed. He turned around and locked the door when she took the chance to take her phone out of the pocket and called the last dialed number which happened to belong to John. Once the door was locked, Carlito went over to her again and began to kiss her.

"Get off of me," Lita tried to push him away from her, but the effect on what Carlito slipped in her drink was getting to her. "Don't touch me."

"Shut up!" Carlito shouted before getting back to the task at hand. "Just stop resisting and make this easy on yourself. Don't worry, you'll be out soon enough."

"Please don't do this. You don't have to do this."

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?!" Carlito shouted once again.

"What's wrong?" Jeff asked a visibly fuming John who didn't hang up the phone yet so he could continue to hear what was going on so he could some how find out where the two were. He put his phone on mute so Carlito wouldn't be able to hear that Lita's phone was on and there was someone on the other end.

"When's the last time you saw Red?"

"Um, I don't know," Jeff shrugged. "Why? Is something wrong?" He didn't get an answer as John practically ran away from him, asking everyone else at the party if they saw Lita. Everyone said no so he went upstairs thinking that's probably where Lita and whoever was with her were. He had a inkling it was Carlito's voice he heard.

"What are you doing up here?" Dave asked when he followed John to the top floor. "No one is supposed to come up here."

"I think Red's up here somewhere," John said as he opened up every room the two walked by and saw no one in there. "We need to find her. I think Carlito is up here with her."

"Shut up!" The two heard someone screaming. Carlito continued to scream which allowed John and Dave to find out which room the noise was coming from. They followed the voice to a room at the end of the hallway and John tried to open it up but found it was locked.

"Open the door!" John shouted while he knocked on the door. He turned his attention to Dave when he heard no response from Carlito who quieted down once he heard someone on the other end. "Either you get me the keys to this room or I will break the door down."

"I'll be back."

"Hurry up," John said to Dave who went to go get the keys. He continued to pound on the door and yell at Carlito to open up which didn't help whatsoever. Dave came back soon just as he promised with the keys in his hands with Randy right behind him.

"Do either of you know where my sister is?" Randy asked. "I haven't seen her."

"I didn't tell him to follow me," Dave said as he unlocked the door and opened it. "This is not going to be good. Something is going to break."

"What are you talking about?" Randy asked confused as he followed Dave and John into the room. He got his answer when he saw John pull Carlito off of a now unconscious Lita whose shirt was missing and pushed him onto the floor.

"You stupid sorry son of a bitch!" Randy said as he walked towards a drunk Carlito and punched him in the face as John tried to take care of the unconscious teen after putting her shirt back on. Randy continued to hit the unsuspected Carlito.

"Randy, I think that's enough," Dave said as he tried to get him off of Carlito. "You need to get Lita out of here and do something to help her. She's out of it. He might have put something in her drink."

"What did you do?!" Randy asked as he stopped physically attacking Carlito for the moment. "What did you put in there?!" Carlito said nothing, opting to laugh instead which earned him another punch to the jaw. "You tell me right now you sick bastard or I'll kill you!"

"Roofies," Carlito finally answered which made Randy finally get off from him, but not without punching him one last time.

"What's going on?" Everyone turned their attention to see Edge and Trish had now entered the room.

"Oh my God!" Trish exclaimed as she walked over to the bed when she saw John with the unconscious Lita. "What happened? Is she okay?"

"I don't know," John answered. "That bastard over there," he said gesturing to Carlito who was trying to get up from the floor, "drugged her."

Edge looked over to Carlito who was trying to get up from the floor and just like Randy before him, he took him down and he was on the ground once again with Edge attacking him this time.

"I think that's enough," John spoke up. "What are we supposed to do? We can't take her to the hospital. Underage drinking."

"She was supposed to go home with me but I can't take her with me now," Trish began to say. "I could sneak her in. Initially I didn't think my parents would wake up, but they could. Maybe we should take her to the hospital. It's safer that way. We don't know the full effects of roofies but it has the potential to be very dangerous."

"No," Randy shook his head. "The drugs will wear off in a couple of hours depending on how much that bitch put in her drink. We're going home. I'll keep an eye on her and take her to the hospital if it's needed. It's not needed right now."

"My parents aren't in town," John spoke up. "We can take her there and obviously you can stay too," he suggested.

"Fine," Randy agreed. "That's possibly the best thing to do without our parents finding out. They already think she's staying with Trish."

"Maybe we should report him," Trish began to say only to be interrupted by Randy.

"Underage drinking will go over so well with the cops."

"But he can't get away with this."

"Oh he won't."

"I don't care what either of you say, I'm coming too," Edge, who was now near the others, said. Neither of them noticed Carlito sneaking away at that moment. John simply nodded before he carried the redhead out of the room, down the stairs, and outside of the house to his car with her brother and guy best-friend following him to his house.

Randy was thankful John found his sister before Carlito could do whatever he was planning on doing which was pretty obvious to him and the others who saw what was going on. He just hoped she would be okay and Carlito would finally stay away from her after the beating he received from both Randy and Edge. If not, then Carlito was just as stupid as he thought and had something else coming to him.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	13. Chapter 13

"How's she doing?" John asked Randy a couple hours later referring to Lita.

They had easily gotten to John's house with Lita from Dave's house. They received suspicious looks from others when they saw the little group leave together with John carrying what they correctly assumed was a passed out Lita. That was also when Dave told everyone they had to get out of his house because that was the end of the party. People started to get suspicious something happened because it was still pretty early for the party to end and especially because some of them noticed a bruised Carlito limping down the stairs and out the house, but they just didn't know the details.

Randy checked up on his sister to see how she was doing multiple times ever since the four teens had arrived to John's house and got everything settled to the time being. It seemed like he checked up on her every ten minutes whether he was in the same room as her or not. Neither of the three who were with her knew all the side effects of roofies so they decided to use the internet as help and also kept checking to see if she was okay and breathing.

"She's breathing. She seems fine. For now," Randy answered, muttering the last part under his breath as he sat down on the chair in John's room.

"That's good. You know you could sleep if you want. There are empty rooms around. Or you can even stay in the same room as Red. I'm not tired so I can take over for you if you want."

Randy shook his head. "I won't be able to sleep if I don't know she's okay. I can't believe that piece of shit..." He trailed off when he felt himself getting angry all over again and wanted nothing more to do then to hunt down Carlito and beat the crap out of him again even though that feeling never left in the first place. Randy rolled his eyes before he continued after he thought of something else. "Plus, her bodyguard is up there with her and won't leave. And I do trust him with her more than I do you. No offense."

John said nothing in return to was quiet between the two for a while while they were just sitting there.

"Thanks," Randy randomly decided to say which made John look up at him in confusion.

"For what?"

"For getting to Li before...before anything could happen," Randy began to answer, "for helping her out, and for letting us stay here so our parents won't find out anything. They would freak out if they knew she was drinking and they would automatically assume I was drinking as well because she's the good one," Randy said putting air quotes around the last two words. "I also don't want them to worry about something for no reason especially when nothing happened. So thanks."

"Oh, yea, no problem. She called my phone and I heard what was going on. There's no way I was just going to let that bastard do whatever the hell was going on in that sick mind of his. I just... I hope she's okay. I'm glad both you and Edge got your turn on that bastard."

"It felt good." Randy paused for a brief moment while he debated with himself whether or not he was going to bring up the fact that he saw John and Lita kissing. He decided he would just ask John about it now because it wasn't like they were doing anything else.

"It's not that I'm not thankful for what you've done, but..." Randy was about to say more but was interrupted by his phone. He thought it was either Trish or Christy who was calling so he wasn't surprised when he saw it was his younger sister calling. Christy had been calling every now and then ever since she heard some details of what happened from Maria who heard it from someone who actually went to the party. Both her older siblings prevented her from going to the party because they said she was too young for a party like that which pissed her off, so she ended up staying home.

"She's breathing. She's fine."

"Why won't you tell me the truth about what happened?" Christy replied from the other end of the line.

Randy let out a sigh before answering his younger sisters question. "I already told you that she's okay and that's all that matters."

"But-"

"Christy," Randy interrupted her. "Just drop it. It's almost four. You should sleep. Call me later when both mom and dad are gone and then we'll come home."

"What if they stay home? Then what are you going to do?"

"They go for a walk every Saturday and Sunday morning. I'm sure today's not going to be different."

"But if it is?"

Randy had to bite his tongue from blowing up on Christy right now. She was annoying him big time and he knew if he actually did blow up on her, he would let his still very present anger of Carlito out on her and that was pretty unnecessary at the moment. "Just do what I said." He hung up his phone before Christy could have a chance to say anything. It was quiet for a moment before Randy began with what he was going to say before Christy interrupted with her call. "It's not that I'm ungrateful for all your help, but what's your deal?"

"What do you mean?" John asked confused.

"You're always around Li. You just happen to be there when she's needs help? First, you dropped her off home when she hurt her ankle. Then you were there when she got into that ridiculous fight with Edge and wanted to go home. And let's not forget the fact that I left that party after you two left and got there half an hour before she showed up home. And now this. What's up with that?"

"I don't know," John shrugged. "There was really no one else around to help when she hurt her ankle. It was an away game, not many people went. Victoria was in the game. She asked me to drop her off after that Halloween party. As for tonight, like I said, she called me and I heard what was going on and there was no way I was going to ignore it."

"Fair enough. But you two have been spending a lot of time together lately."

"Maybe because she's my friend."

"Don't you have other friends?"

"I like hanging out with her."

"Are you sure that's all? Because when you, Edge, and Stephanie came to work on that project the other day, you stayed like two hours after the other two left."

John rolled his eyes. "Like I said, I like hanging out with her. What's your problem? What do you really want to ask me?"

"Why did I see you kissing my sister?"

John had to fight the urge to laugh and was successful. He didn't know what to say because he didn't know how Randy would react to the truth. Lita seemed a little irritated but didn't mind too much because she did get to bug her brother as a result.

"Why did I see you kissing my sister?" Randy asked once again when John wouldn't answer.

"We saw you looking our way so thought it would be fun to mess with you," John answered half truthfully. Just because Lita didn't seem to upset didn't mean he was going to tell Randy the whole truth.

Randy rolled his eyes and shook his head. "That's just lovely."

"You looked pretty pissed so I guess it worked, huh?" That earned John a glare and that's when he started laughing.

"Look, I don't know what's going on with you two, but she's my sister so obviously I'm going to be protective of her. Do anything to hurt her and I promise you that you will regret it. Got it?"

John fought the urge to roll his eyes. "She's just my friend." That earned him another glare which is why he continued. "Okay okay okay. Chill, I got it. I don't think I want the Carlito treatment."

"You better not pull something idiotic like that bitch to get that same treatment."

"You don't have to worry about me," was all John said before the duo fell into silence.

* * *

Lita finally woke up a couple of hours later. She felt her head pounding as she tried to sit up, but that was a fail. She tried to sit up again and was finally able to do so. She leaned back against the headboard and looked around the room and was utterly confused as to where she was when she noticed that it looked different from her own room. It didn't look like she was in her room. This room was a bit bigger than hers, had one of the windows in the wrong place, the closet was also on the other side of the room, and there was no extra door that connected her and Christy's room with the bathroom. It definitely wasn't her room or even Trish's where she was supposed to be. She didn't know where she was and that made her anxious.

"Oh finally. Thank God you're awake," She heard a familiar voice from voice from nearby say. She looked around the room so she could spot the owner of the voice and saw Edge sitting on a char right near the bed she was previously lying in.

"Where am I?" Lita asked her friend who looked at her with concern. She was wondering what that was about, but first she wanted to know where in the world she was.

"One of John's brothers room. We're at his house."

"Why?" She was even more confused than before if that was even possible. "Why are we at his house?"

"You don't remember anything that happened last night?" Edge questioned.

Lita shook her head and then immediately regretted it because it began to hurt even more than before. "Ouch," she said as she grabbed her head. "Bad idea. No, I don't remember. Should I?" Edge looked away and said nothing in response because he didn't know what to say to her. "Um, okay. Let's see," she said as she began to try to remember the events from the night before. "We were at that lame party. John asked me if I wanted to have some fun so we kissed so-"

"What?" Edge interrupted, looking back at the redhead in surprise. "You and John kissed?"

"Yea, only to annoy the shit out of Randy which worked. And I get ten bucks out of it, so that was a plus. But now that I think about it, I feel like a whore."

"What?"

Lita saw how confused he looked and let out a small laugh before she filled him in on the circumstances surrounding the kiss.

"Do you like him? And I don't mean as a friend."

"What?" Lita asked a little surprised and annoyed he would ask her that question.

"Well, you basically admitted you did in middle school when Stephanie kinda slipped. By the way, thanks for telling her and not me. I'm supposed to be your best-friend, not her."

"You sound like Trish."

He rolled his eyes. "Answer the question." Lita stayed quiet as she looked away from him. "Look, all I'm saying is that you two have been spending a lot of time together later-"

"Just like you and Torrie," Lita interrupted as she looked back at him. "How is that different?"

"Because I do like Torrie as more than a friend and she's my girlfriend so it's normal."

"Okay. Me and you hang out a lot."

"Yes," Edge nodded. "But like I said before, I'm your best-friend so that's normal too." Lita simply rolled her eyes so Edge continued. "I was at the mall the other day and I walked past the record store," he said referring to where she worked, "I saw him there and he was with you."

"Wow. You're a stalker but I was helping him pick out a CD. He said he kind of liked the songs I made him listen to a while back so I was helping him pick out a CD he would like. I couldn't give him straight up punk so it took a while to find something I think he would like. Everyone here seems to be obsessed with All Time Low since they're from around here so I thought he could give them a shot."

"You two are always sitting together at lunch by yourselves."

Lita shrugged. "I don't see your point. He's my friend."

"Do you like him?" Edge asked once again.

Lita closed her eyes and shook her head before opening them up again. She let out a sigh before speaking. "I don't know, okay? I don't know. He has become a good friend these past few weeks. He's a... Sort of. I guess. Yes. Kind of." Edge simply nodded, not adding anything because he knew she would like for that conversation to end. "Don't tell anyone."

"Okay."

"Okay let's get back to the point. After that kiss... What happened? I don't know. Why don't I remember anything? Did I get drunk? Maybe that last cup was a bad idea."

"No, you didn't get drunk, but um... Well... Oh God, I don't know what to say."

"What's wrong?" Lita asked worried. She was for sure something was up. She was still very confused as to why she was in John's house in the first place. "Oh my God. Did something happen with me and John? Did we hook up? That's not how-"

"No," The blonde interrupted the redhead before she could freak out even more although she was going to do that pretty soon when she found out the truth or remembered on her own, whichever happened first. "That's not what happened?"

"Okay then tell me why I'm in John's brothers room."

"I just... I don't know how to."

"Okay so something terrible happened. After that kiss, I drank some more and started to feel dizzy and very very tired for no reason whatsoever," Lita said as she continued to try and remember the events of last night that were slowly coming back to her. "I really don't know what happened after that. Please tell me."

"Okay. I really don't-"

"Just spit it out!" Lita exclaimed, interrupting him once again.

"Carlito drugged you," Edge blurted out which definitely wasn't the way he wanted to tell her. He knew he couldn't keep the truth away from her, but that really wasn't the way he would have liked for her to find out.

"What?" Lita asked really shocked and surprised after she registered his words. She looked pretty terrified as well. "What? You you you you're kidding. Right? Ple... Oh God. Please tell me you're joking." Edge simply shook his head before sitting besides her on the bed when it looked like she was about to break down in tears.

"I'm sorry," he said as he pulled her in for a hug. He felt her shake against him and he could tell she was afraid.

"Please tell me you're lying. This has got to be some kind of sick joke, right?"

"I'm afraid not."

"Oh my God," Lita began to say as she backed off a little away from him and looked up at him. "He didn't... He ra... Did he... He..."

"No," Edge shook his head, interrupting her before she could continue with her freak out. "He didn't do... John got up there before anything could happen. I promise."

"John? How did that happen?"

"Apparently you called him before you... before the drugs took a full toll on you."

"You mean before I passed out?" Edge nodded and that's when she began to cry again and he pulled her closer to himself once again. "Why would he do that? I never did anything to him."

"I don't know but if it makes you feel any better, Randy and I had a pretty great time beating him up."

"Good," was all Lita said.

It took a few more minutes until Lita finally stopped crying. She finally removed herself from Edge completely. She wiped her face when she thought she was officially done crying.

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Edge asked confused. He didn't know she had anything to apologize for especially after what she just heard about what occurred the night before.

"What do you think? Halloween. Does that ring a bell?"

"Oh. It's okay."

"No it's not. You were right, I was a bitch. I don't like her and I never will, but that's not an excuse for the way I acted. I should probably apologize to her, but I don't want to because I don't like her."

"Maybe the three of us could hang out together," Edge suggested even though he had a feeling she was going to decline. He smirked before he continued. "We could also ask John and we could make it a double date." He took a chance to make that small little joke because he felt maybe it could make her feel a little better and take her mind off of things for the time being.

Lita sent him a glare. "I hate you. Don't say something like that again. But... Ugh, whatever. We can try that if you really want to." _It's only high school. This is only temporary. It's not like you're going to last forever. Oh wow. I really am a bitch.__  
_

"That's all I ask," Edge said as it fell into silence between the two pretty soon after that.

Lita couldn't help but to think about last night once again. She started to get afraid all over again.

"Tomorrow is Monday," Lita said after a moment of silence. "Monday means school. School means Carlito is going to be there." _So I guess taking her mind off of things only works for a little, _Edge thought to himself as the redhead started to panic all over again. "I don't want to see him. What if he tries something again? I don't... I don't want to see him."

"He won't do anything. I'll beat him again and Randy will possibly kill him before he can even think of getting near you."

"He's in Spanish with me. He's always sitting behind me. I even caught him playing with my hair once. Trish said she has caught him smelling me sometimes."

_Sick bastard. _"John's in that class with you too. I'm pretty sure he won't let Carlito anywhere near you either. He's not going to do anything at school. As much as I don't want to say this, but you were really vulnerable last night so he..." He trailed off when he didn't want to complete that statement.

"I need to go home and shower. I need to get out of these clothes and burn them. I want his touch, any sign of him off of me. I don't... I just..." She started to cry once again so Edge decided to pull her in for another hug. He didn't know what else to do. He didn't know if there was anything else to do other than just be there for her and try to comfort her.

It wasn't long after that that the two heard the door open again. Edge looked up and saw both John and Randy enter the room.

"You told her?" Randy questioned when he saw the sight of his sister crying against her best-friend.

"Yea," Edge nodded in response. "I had to. She doesn't remember anything at all after the point when she last talked to John at the party."

"Can we go home?" Lita asked Randy after pulling away from Edge and turning her attention to her brother.

"It's too early. Mom and dad probably haven't left yet."

"Please. I need to take a shower. I need to get any sign of him off of me. I need to get out of these clothes and get rid of them."

"Okay," Randy easily agreed. "We can tell them you weren't feeling good and I picked you up from Trish's."

Lita nodded. "That works."

"You need a ride?" John spoke up for the first time since entering the room.

"No," Randy shook his head. "I have the car." He focused his attention on Edge before asking him the same thing John just asked him.

"I'll take him," John said before Edge could reply. "You two should just go home. No need to make an extra stop." Randy merely nodded in response.

Lita finally got up from where she was sitting on the bed before the group of four headed down the stairs so her and Randy could go back home so she could do what she was in need to do ever since she found out what Carlito tried to do the night before.

"Thanks," Lita said to John right before her and Randy were about to head out the door. "Edge told me how you... how you stopped Ca... how you stopped him from doing anything."

"Of course. I'm just glad you were able to call before it was too late."

"Well, thank you. It means a lot that you were there to... to save me, I guess." The lone girl smiled at him with him returning the gesture and then she did something that surprised the other present teens: she hugged John who hugged her back after he registered what was going on.

"See you later," Lita said after the hug ended. With that said, both Orton twins left so they could get back to their own house. John and Edge also left so the former could drop the latter off at his house as well.

"I honestly don't know what's going on with you and Li, but whatever it is, don't hurt her," Edge said to John when John pulled up in front of Edge's house.

_Dejavu,_ John thought to himself when he felt this was kind of the same conversation he had with Randy earlier. "We're friends."

"Okay. Thanks for the ride." Edge opened the door and got out of the car before walking towards his house.

John began to head back home. He let out a sigh when he thought about the conversation he had with Randy earlier. He started to rethink continuing with the rest of the bet. He never wanted to hurt Lita and maybe that's what he was doing if he continued with the bet. Originally, he didn't care about her feelings because it wasn't like he liked her in the first place, but he thought she was a pretty great person and they were pretty good friends now, so he definitely did care if he hurt her. But it wasn't like she was going to find out because only three people knew about it and neither of them was going to tell her about it. He didn't even care about the money on the line, he just wanted to prove Chris wrong which he was successful with so far. He knew he would have succeeded with the second part as well, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to do that anymore.

John pulled into the driveway as he CONTINUED to think about the cons of continuing with the bet, they definitely outweighed the pros. He sat in his car for a few moments before pulling out his phone and sending Chris a text: _I want out the bet. We're done with it._

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)**

**If you read this before, I thought I'd let you know that everything becomes completely different beginning in the next chapter.**


	14. Chapter 14

"We should probably hurry up," Trish said one Monday morning a week agk after she shut her locker and turned her attention to Lita. The two had been putting their books away that they didn't need until later that afternoon. "We only have another minute or two before the bell rings."

"That should explain why there aren't that many people around," Lita said when she was done with her locker as well. She turned around and smiled at Trish. "Let's go."

The two began to walk to their different classrooms which were right next to one another when Lita abruptly stopped in the middle of her sentence and stopped walking when she noticed someone looking right at her. Trish realized Lita wasn't walking next to her anymore and turned around to see that the redhead looked like she had just seen a ghost.

"What's wrong Li?" Trish didn't get an answer so she followed Lita's gaze to a nearby Carlito who neither of them had seen since the incident at the party a few days ago. He didn't show up to school Monday or Tuesday with Lita then hoping that meant he wasn't coming back to school, but here he was right after Thanksgiving break.

"We can go the long way." Trish grabbed Lita's wrist and began to turn her around so they could avoid Carlito, but Lita pulled her wrist out of Trish's hold.

"I'm not afraid of him."

Lita was looking straight at Carlito who was giving her a smile both teen girls would describe as creepy. Trish saw the look on Lita's face which basically told her that her friend was trying to be strong but she was still scared of him deep down inside even though she was trying to convince herself otherwise. The blonde knew the redhead had several nightmares the past couple of days even though she still didn't remember exactly what happened. She had some recollection because of what Edge told her, but she didn't remember much herself and she was kind of glad even though that freaked her out.

"I'm not about to walk around the school to class which is right down the hall just because he happens to be in the way. I'm going to see him in Spanish so why not just get over with it now?"

Trish didn't say anything in response as Lita resumed walking to class with Trish soon following her when she knew convincing Lita to go the other way was a lost cause. Lita wanted to ignore Carlito, but he wasn't going to let her go by easily.

"How about we find an empty classroom or even a closet and finish what we started?" Carlito asked when Lita and Trish were walking past him.

"Keep walking," Trish whispered to Lita who stopped right when she heard Carlito speak.

Lita shook her head and turned around to face the other teen. "Don't you mean what you started, you sick bastard? I don't want anything to do with you. Take the hint and leave me the hell alone you creep."

Carlito shook his head and that smug smile was back on his face. "No can do."

Lita rolled her eyes and was about to turn around so she could leave when she decided it was best to ignore and not entertain him. She just felt it waz easier that way and she could save herself the headache. Unfortunately for her, Carlito had other plans and grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her close to himself.

"Uh! Get off of me!" Lita pulled her wrist out of her hold and pushed him hard which resulted in his back meeting the locker.

"That was the bell we heard not long ago," Coach Michaels said when he walked up to the duo after he heard commotion and saw some of the students gathering around, "which means everyone should be in class already. So let's all get to class now." A few of the students left with a couple, along with Trish, still lingering behind.

Coach Michaels glanced between Lita and Carlito before speaking again. "Is something wrong here?"

"Yea," Lita began to answer, opting to glare at Carlito instead of facing the man she was talking to, "he's harassing me and he won't leave me alone."

"She's lying," Carlito spoke up before Coach Michaels had a chance to say anything. "She's a tease. Always inviting me to play and now that I want to, she's just playing hard to get. She wants me."

"Inviting you to play?" Lita asked with a disgusted look on her face. "What are we? Five? Just because I have talked to you before because I was trying to be nice, does not mean I want you. I haven't voluntarily talked to you ever since I caught you stalking me. I will never voluntarily speak to you ever since what you you tried to pull the other night. Get a clue. I don't like you. I don't want you. We're not even friends. The only reason I'm talking to you right now is so I can tell you how pathetic you are."

"Okay," Coach Michaels spoke before either of the two teens could say another word. He turned his attention to Lita before continuing. "Go to class and I'll take care of this."

"Thanks," Lita said as she glanced at Coach Michaels and began to walk away with Trish by her side, but not without sending Carlito, who was still smiling at her, one last dirty look. "I hate him."

"Where do you think you're going?" Coach Michaels asked when he saw Carlito walking off.

"Class."

Mr. Michaels shook his head. "I don't think so. We're going to my office, time to talk." The teen rolled his eyes, but still followed the teacher into his office near the locker room.

"Are you okay?" Trish asked once the duo arrived outside of their classrooms.

"He just needs to stay the hell way from me."

"Maybe Randy or Edge will pummel him again," Trish suggested hoping that would lighten up the mood a little.

Lita shook her head. "No. I mean, they can go at him all they like, but it would be better to beat the crap out of him myself. Oh God. I feel so gross. Everytime he looks at me, I feel like I need to take a billion showers. So obviously now I feel like I need a trillion." Whatever else she was about to say was interrupted when a teacher walked by and told the two to get into their classrooms before she wrote them up and gave them detention. "I'll see you in Spanish," she said before heading to her class with Trish doing the same.

Once Lita entered the room, the morning announcements came over the speakers. That meant she still had some time until Mr. Regal began class which was exactly why he didn't say anything to her when she walked in later. She would have been given detention if she walked in after he started class which was always right after the announcements.

"Hey Red," John said when he saw Lita sit down in her spot right next to him. The redhead didn't say anything in response as she placed her bookbag on the space in front of her and stared right ahead at the blackboard with some notes written over it. "Uh, you okay?" He asked, but didn't get any response. He nudged her which made her jump in her seat and snap her head to look at him. "Woah, calm. You okay?"

Lita let out a sigh as she began taking the books she needed for the class out of her bag. "He's back," was all she said in response and it didn't take the other teen long to figure out who she was talking about.

"Well, he won't get near you unless he wants Randy to kill him. I have never seen him that angry before and that's saying a lot coming from me." John added the last part as a way to lighten the mood, but just like Trish before him, it didn't do the trick and he could tell she was really scared by what Carlito could possibly do. Or maybe he already tried something today. "Oh. He already did, didn't he?" Lita simply nodded. "What did he do?"

"Not much. He touched me, but I pushed him against the locker and that felt a little good. Coach Michaels came to the rescue before he could retaliate, but he had the nerve to say I want him and I'm teasing him."

"You don't have to worry about that creepy bastard anymore. I know Randy and even Edge will make sure he doesn't get near you again. So will I."

Lita looked up at John, but didn't say anything. He kept surprising her and maybe she shouldn't be surprised anymore. "I was wrong about you." John gave her a questioning look so she continued. "Yes, you can still be annoying, but you're not that bad."

John let out a small laugh. "You're not so bad yourself either Red."

Lita smiled at him with him returning the gesture. "Thanks," she said getting back to his statement of him also helping her stay safe from Carlito. "You're always helping me lately. Always there in a good non creepy, non stalker way."

"That's what friends are for."

The redhead nodded. "Yea," was all Lita said and it didn't matter if she planned on saying more because the announcements were now over and the teacher was ready to begin class.

* * *

The next couple of classes went by as smoothly as possible. It helped that Carlito was only in Spanish with Lita. He was already sitting in his usual spot in the desk behind the one she sat in when she walked into the room. Carlito didn't fail to notice how John grabbed her hand and directed her to the seat next to his on the other side of the room when it looked like she was about to go sit at her usual desk because she wanted to prove to Carlito she wasn't afraid of him. Initially Lita was annoyed at John for doing that, but she realized she was actually glad for doing what he did because she was sure she wouldn't be able to handle Carlito smelling or playing with her hair.

Currently it was the lunch period. Unfortunately for Lita, Carlito had the same lunch period. She hoped he would just stay away, but she would soon learn that wasn't meant to be.

"So what's word on the double date?" Lita looked up to see a smirking Edge sit down next to her at the table. She glared at him and looked around to make sure no one was paying attention to him. There weren't many others at the table already. Other than Trish who definitley heard what the blonde teen said to the redhead.

"What double date?" Trish questioned the two which caused Lita to punch Edge on the arm.

"Keep your hands to yourself. I didn't see her there. My bad."

"Nothing. He's stupid. He doesn't know what he's talking about."

Trish looked between the two and shook her head. "No. Tell me what you're talking about. Tell me now."

"Nothing blondie," Lita said before Edge had a chance to say anything. "Seriously."

"You know I won't stop bugging you until you tell me the truth so spill. Now."

Lita didn't say anything and that's when Edge decided to open his mouth. "She has a crush on Christian and- ow! I told you to keep your hands to yourself, that also applies to your feet."

"Stop being stupid."

"You just want to tell her the truth?"

"You said you wouldn't tell anyone."

"Yea, and that's where Christian came in. I really didn't see her here. I thought it was just us two."

"Shut up!" Trish exclaimed when Lita was about to reply to her friend. That caught her the attention of the other two teens. "Are you keeping a secret from me?" The blonde asked the redhead who rolled her eyes because she knew Trish wasn't going to drop this any time soon. "Spill. Come on. I'm your best-friend, you're not supposed to keep anything from me." Lita stayed silent so Trish continued. "So I'm thinking the crush part was right, but the Christian part was wrong. Oh my God!"

"Shut up."

"It's John! I knew it!" Edge laughed and Lita looked like she wanted to kill both of her friends and that only confirmed her suspicion. "You were really going to keep that away from me? That's mean."

"Please stop talking," Lita said when she saw their other friends joining them at the table.

"Why?" Trish asked and then received her answer when Stephanie, John, and Chris joined them.

"For the billionth time Chris," Stephanie said as she took a seat in between Lita and Trish, mainly so Chris wouldn't sit next to her, "I have as boyfriend so shut up before I kill you in your sleep."

"She's been hanging out with you way too much," Edge said to Lita who decided to just ignore him.

Chris shrugged. "I don't mind. And I heard you don't either."

Stephanie groaned in frustration. "Why does he have to sit with us?!" She asked to no one in particular.

"Because John decided he wanted to sit with us and he's John's boyfriend so he's not going to leave him alone," came Lita's response which earned her two looks of disgust.

"That was uncalled for Red."

"Don't you wish Li," Trish muttered under her breath before bursting into laughter. Fortunately, only Stephanie, who was kind of confused, and Lita heard her.

"Hell. It's waiting for you Trish,"the redhead said to the blonde who was too busy laughing. Lita got up and was about to walk away.

"Come on," Trish said while trying to contain the laughter and everyone was looking at her like she was crazy because they had no clue what was going on. "I was just kidding."

Lita sighed and nodded. "I know, but you're still annoying."

"Where are you going?"

"Outside."

"It's almost December. It's freezing."

"Don't care," was all Lita said before walking away and heading outside.

"Oh!" Stephanie randomly said when Lita was out of sight. "Now I know what that was about. You were right about her!"

Trish smiled and nodded. "I'm always right."

"What are you talking about?" John asked.

"Nothing," Trish and Stephanie said in unison before they began laughing all over again.

Meanwhile, Lita wasn't the only one outside. There were a couple of other students standing or sitting around talking to one another or just doing their own thing. Clearly the cold weather wasn't bothering any of them. Lita sat down at one of the empty benches nearby. She was just about to take her phone out when she felt like someone was walking towards her. She looked up and saw Carlito walking towards her.

"Great," she muttered under her breath before getting up from the bench with the intention of going back inside. She was really in no mood to deal with him right now. Unfortunately for her, he grabbed her arm and stopped her right in her tracks. Lita tried to pull her arm out of Carlito's hold, but she wasn't successful. "Get off of me right now," she said to no avail.

"Where are you going? I came out here to talk to you."

"I don't give a damn," she said as she tried to pull her arm out of his hold once again. "Leave me alone."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" The two teens looked up to see John was a few feet away from them. "Why can't you take the hint- actually, I wouldn't even call it a hint anymore when she has told you a billion times to leave her alone so back off."

Carlito scoffed and since his guard was down, Lita was able to get out of his hold. "What's your problem John? Can't you see I'm trying to talk to my girl?"

"Excuse me?" Lita asked, disgust present in her voice. "What the hell did you just say?" She was only ignored as Carlito continued.

"Why don't you just back up and leave us alone? Stop trying to get between us. We're trying to have a nice conversation."

John shook his head. "That's not what it looks like to me. It looks like you're bothering her again." He turned his attention to Lita who was now standing next to him. "Red, were you having a nice conversation with Carlito?"

"Hell no."

"Yea didn't think so." John looked back at Carlito before continuing. "So you can leave now."

"And who do you think you are telling me what to do? How about you stop being around my girl all the time? She's-"

"Shut up!" Lita shouted as she interrupted the other teen, making everyone who was outside to turn their attention to the three. "I don't know if you hit your head while you were younger or someone dropped you on her head or whatever happened, but get it through your damn head that I don't want anything to do with you at all! Stop calling me your girl unless you want me to punch you! I'm actually close to doing that either way because you deserve it! You actually deserve to get your ass kicked so just shut up! Leave me the hell alone unless you want me to tell Randy to beat the shit out of you because you know he'll do it! I'm surprised he hasn't again! He must not know you're back! I can change that, so I'm warning you one last time, leave me alone!" With that said, she walked off.

John was about to follow after her, but he glanced back at Carlito who didn't seem to be phased one. "I'd listen to her if I were you because Randy's not the only one you're going to have to worry about."

Carlito scoffed. "Yea, and what are you going to do? I will get her o-" Whatever else he was about to say was cut off when John decided he had enough and punched him, knocking him down.

"Something like that," was all John said as he walked off to find Lita. Fortunately for him, there were no faculty around to see that and none of the students who witnessed any of that were about to go tattle on him so it wasn't like he could get I'm trouble for that not like he cared even if he did. He had been wanting to do that for a while now.

It didn't take John too long to find Lita. He just walked around the empty hallways for a while until he saw Lita at her locker. "What are you doing?"

"Leaving. I just don't want to be here right now. There's only one class left for the day and that's Philosophy and I really don't care about that right now." She groaned as she slammed the locker door shut. "Randy has the car keys and I can't just go to his class and just get them. Whatever, I'll just walk home."

"I can take you," John suggested.

"What?"

"I have my car, I can take you home. It's not like I haven't skipped before. It's just one class."

"You want to skip with me?"

John shrugged. "Yea, whatever. I guess. The worse that can happen is getting detention which will happen because I know Coach saw me today."

"Same here and I really don't care. Alright," Lita easily agreed because she wouldn't put it past a certain stalker of hers to follow her as she walked home and the walk home wasn't a short one. The two began walking out the school and towards his car in silence. A teacher stopped them and asked them where they were going so they said they had a free period meaning they could leave early.

"Just remembered I can't go home," Lita said once the two arrived to his car and sat down. "I think my mom is home and if she sees me, she'll ask why I'm home early and I'll end up having to tell her about the party and I, I'm just not doing that."

"Who said anything about going home?" He continued after the questioning look she sent him. "We don't have to go home. I still owe you ten bucks for kissing me."

"Can you just say you owe me ten bucks? You don't have to say why. It really makes me sound like a whore."

"Then I guess we're both whores. And that didn't sound bad in my mind. I wasn't really calling you a-"

Lita laughed. "I know."

"Point is, neither of us has to go home. We could always, I don't know, go to a movie or something."

"Who goes to the movies on a Monday afternoon?"

"Teenagers skipping school."

"Point. Whatever. Works for me."

"So it's a date then," John said only to back track when he realized what he said. "I didn't mean a date, well, unless you want it-"

"Just stop talking and drive," Lita cut him off before he could get any further. He didn't say anything in response as he did just that.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	15. Chapter 15

"Thanks," Lita said a couple of hours later when John pulled up in front of her house. "I really just needed to get out of there and coming home early was not an option so thank you for that. I actually had fun and feel so much better now."

John smirked before he spoke up. "I knew you liked me."

Lita rolled her eyes and shook her head. "I'm trying to be serious here."

"So am I." The redhead didn't say anything in response, simply rolling her eyes once again so the brunette continued after feigning a look of hurt. "So why do you sound so surprised that you had fun with me?"

"What?"

"You said, 'I actually had fun.' Like were you expecting to be bored? That hurts my feelings. I thought we had something special going on here."

"Oh God. You are so special."

"See, now I'm confused. First you're nice, then mean, then nice again. You're sending me mixed signals. You bipolar or something?"

"You're annoying me so I'm just going to leave now," Lita said as she unbuckled her seatbelt. She was just about to open the door and leave the car, but that was when she heard John burst into laughter. She turned to face him with a scowl present on his face. "I'm back to hating you again."

John shook his head as he sobered up. "I don't think so. You had fun with me therefore you like me."

"Are you five?"

"No babe. I'll gladly prove it to you."

Lita didn't say anything in response and John knew she wasn't amused which made him laugh all over again. He really did enjoy getting under skin. "You're disgusting. I was supposed to be leaving, why am I still talking to you?"

John smirked before answering her question and she knew where he was heading with this. "Because you-"

"Please shut up."

"And there you go being mean again."

Lita closed her eyes and counted to three before taking a deep breath and opening her eyes again. "And there you go being a pain in the ass again."

"I am so sorry Red. Please forgive me. I cannot live with myself knowing that you are upset with me. Please forgive me. Please be my friend again."

"Do you like irritating everyone or am I just that special?"

John winked. "You're just that special."

"Okay thanks. I'm gonna go now so bye."

"Wait," John said before Lita could try and open the door again and leave. The redhead did as she said and turned to face him with a questioning look on her face so he continued. "Um, I had a, um, a pretty great time with you too. We should do it again some time. Uh, would you like that?"

Lita had to bite her lip to keep her from laughing. All of his confidence was gone and he looked so nervous and she thought it was cute. "Is this your way of asking me out on a date?"

"Maybe."

Lita rolled her eyes. "It's a yes or no answer."

John shrugged. "Yea, so was yours." Lita didn't say anything in reponse as she waited for him to give her a real answer to her question. "It depends on your answer."

"And my answer depends on your answer."

"Maybe I am asking you out on a date."

"Then maybe we will go out on a date."

"That's good enough for me."

Lita let out a small laugh and was just about to open the door again so she could leave as John turned his attention back to the wheel in front of him. Once again, Lita stopped herself from leaving. She didn't know what overcame her, but she leaned towards John after thanking him once again for helping her feel better. She intended to kiss him on the cheek, but that was when he turned a bit and instead of his cheek, she kissed his lips.

"Um," was all a confused John could say. He noticed Lita looked mortified so he had a feeling that wasn't supposed to happen.

Lita looked away for a moment before glancing back at John. "You weren't supposed to turn your cheek."

John shrugged. "That's fine, it's not like we haven't kissed before."

"Right. Um, see you later. Bye." With that said, she quickly got out of the car and headed towards the front door of the house. She couldn't get inside the house fast enough. She didn't know why she felt very embarrassed even after John pointed out they had kissed before, but she couldn't help it.

Lita shook those thoughts out of her head as she began walking up the stairs so she could go to her room. She was glad her parents didn't seem to be around to ask her any questions as to why she didn't come home with her siblings because it wasn't like she gave them a warning before hand. Well, she did send them a text in the middle of the movie her and John were supposedly watching saying she was going to be a little late. Unfortunately, that wasn't meant to be because her mother stopped her just as she was about to go inside her room. Karen asked her where she was and Lita told her she was just hanging out with some friends which wasn't a total lie. Her mom said that was fine, but she would have liked to know she was going to be home later than expected before hand.

The redhead finally arrived to her room and closed the door behind her before she looked up and screamed when she saw someone in her room. "Randy!" She shouted when she saw her brother sitting on her bed and going through his phone. "Give me a heart attack why don't you?!" She slapped him on the back of his head after she walked over closer to him. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I think the better question is what is wrong with you? Why did you just hit me?"

"Why are you in my room when I'm not here? Why are you in here like this is your room?"

Randy decided to ignore her question because there was something more important to discuss at the moment. "Why weren't you in class? I heard you left with John? Why did you leave with him? Where did you go?"

Lita let out a sigh and rolled her eyes as she sat down on an empty spot on her bed. "You're so nosy." She continued after he sent her a glare. She told him about her problems with Carlito at school that day and how John offered to drop her off home because she just didn't feel like going to the last class of the day.

"I'm going to kill him. I thought I made it clear to him that he needs to leave you alone."

"John didn't do anything. He-"

Randy rolled his eyes and interrupted his sister. "Actually, I heard he punched Carlito-"

"What?" Lita cut him off. This was the first she was hearing about John punching Carlito. That must have happened after she left the outside area of the school behind the cafeteria.

"Yea, all I heard was that John punched Carlito and I guess I now know why." Lita didn't say anything in response, she was wondering why John didn't mention that to her. "But before, I was talking about Carlito you idiot."

"I'm about to slap you."

"So why did it take John like five hours to drop you off home? It's six now."

"Well, I didn't want to come home because I wasn't sure if mom would be home and if she saw I was home early, then she would have asked me about a billion questions and I was just trying to avoid that."

"So where did you go?"

Lita rolled her eyes. "Not that it's any my of your concern, we went to the movies."

"What did you watch?"

Lita opened her mouth to answer his question, but that's when she realized she really didn't have a clue. "I honestly don't know. We weren't really paying any attention to the movie."

"Were you making out with him?" Randy asked just as disgusted as he looked which earned him a punch on the arm this time. "Ow."

"No you dumb ass." She was about to say more, but Randy felt it was a good time to interrupt her.

"Then what were you doing? It's not like you can talk in the theater. And there are only two reasons people go to the movie and if you weren't watching the movie, then obviously you went to go make out with him."

"You're stupid. We were talking. We were like the only ones there so yes, we were talking. Do you have a problem with that."

Randy nodded. "Yes, why were you with him?"

"I already answered that question so you can leave now."

"Look, I know he's been nice and helping you out lately with whatever he keeps helping you with, but I still don't like him or trust him."

"And I still don't care. Leave."

Randy didn't say anything in response as he got up from where he was sitting and walked towards the door so he could do as he was asked. But before he could open the door and leave, he looked back over at his sister who was impatiently waiting for him to leave. "Just to let you know, I will not accept any neice or nephew that comes from him."

Lita was taken aback by what her brother just said. She didn't say anything immediately as she tried to register his words. Then she picked up a pillow from her bed and hurled it at him. "What the hell is wrong with you?! We're just friends!"

"Hey, I'm not saying it'll happen now," Randy said picking up the pillow from the floor and tossing it back on her head, "because it better not. I will kill him. But it could happen like ten years down the road and it better not because I will not accept any kid of yours that comes from him."

"Get out!"

Randy held his hands up in defense. "I know when I'm not wanted."

"Yea, like ten minutes too late!" Lita shook her head as her brother finally left her room. "What an idiot."

* * *

John turned off the tv when he decided there was nothing on that he would actually watch later that evening. He was bored out of his mind. It was around nine and it was a school night so it wasn't like he could go out anywhere. And he wasn't tired either so sleep also wasn't an option. Maybe he could have worked on some assignments, but he didn't have anything he already didn't finish due tomorrow so he really didn't want to do there was absolutely nothing to do unless he actually wanted to get an early start on those particular assignments. Yea, that wasn't going to happen, he still had some time.

He looked up towards the door when he heard the doorbell ring. Initially he was going to ignore whoever it was and just let his mom answer the door, but she would get angry if she saw him in the living room doing nothing while she was possibly doing something and he didn't answer the door. Plus, there was the whole being bored thing. There was a possibility one of his friends could have been on the other end of the door even if it was nine. Jeff always did stop by at odd times.

He got up from the couch and headed to the door so he could see who was there.

"Hey John!" Was the first thing the teen heard before he even saw who was standing in front of him.

"Stacy. Hi," he responded when he saw the blonde teen standing there with a smile plastered on her face. "What are you doing here?"

"Can I come inside?" She asked, ignoring his question.

"I'm home alone," John lied. "My parents have rules I should follow unless I want to be grounded and winter break is soon and I rather not spend it all at home."

"That's not a problem. We can go for a walk."

John fought the urge to roll his eyes. She couldn't take a hint could she? "Going for a walk, I'll be back soon," he called out to his mom before exiting the house and joining Stacy on the porch.

"I thought you were home alone?"

_Crap_. He quickly thought of a lie he thought could be believable as they began to walk. "Yea. I was telling my dog so he wouldn't wait around for me. He waits all day for me to come back from school." He didn't have a dog but it wasn't like Stacy knew that.

"Um, okay."

"So is there a reason you came?" John asked changing the subject so she could get to the point and he could go back home.

"That's rude. It's like you don't want me here."

"I kind of did leave the house without grabbing a jacket or something like that and it's freezing out here, it is December, so just wanna know what's going on."

"I couldn't help but glance over at your test when the grades were handed back to us. You got an 87, that's awesome, I got an 80 which is like a C so I thought we could study together since you're clearly doing better and I can't afford another C in that class."

"We both got a B, an 80 is still a B."

"Well, if I study together then maybe we can end up getting an A on the next test. We can have study dates and who knows? Maybe even actual ones."

John fought the urge to roll his eyes once again. She wasn't subtle at all. He should have known there was another reason behind her showing up at his house and not the whole wanting to study together thing. "I have study dates with someone else, I can't study cheat on her." Okay, that sounded even more stupid out loud than it did in his head. "I would recommend you seek her help if you weren't such a... what's a nice way to put this? A witch maybe? Yea, if you weren't such a witch to her."

Stacy rolled her eyes at the thought of the redhead. "She's not in Forensics with us."

"She took it last year."

"Wow John. I'm practically asking you out and you bring her up instead. Since when have you been such a big fan of hers? It wasn't long ago that you didn't like her and same could be said for her. You're always with her now. Is someone forcing you to do that?"

John rolled his eyes. "She's my friend. As hard as it may be for you to believe, she's actually not bad."

"Aren't we friends?" John shrugged and he noticed Stacy looked more irritated than she already had been when Lita was brought into the conversation by his answer. "Well, I like to think we are. We don't hang out. We should hang out. How about tomorrow?"

"No can do," John shook his head. "I kind of already asked Lita out and she won't want anything to do with me if she sees I made a date with someone else. Especially you."

Stacy was speechless. Did he seriously just reject her for Lita of all people? This had to be a joke. The shocked look was soon replaced by a smile as Stacy stopped walking and turned so she was facing John who did the same.

"It's okay John. I'll be around when you come to your senses and this all blows over. She's totally wrong for you." She kissed him on the lips and left before he had time to react to what just happened.

John shook his head before he headed back towards his house. "That was weird."

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	16. Chapter 16

"I cannot believe you didn't tell me you have a date!" Trish exclaimed the following Saturday when she went over to her best-friends house with the intention of just spending some time together and doing nothing. Well, that's what she was going to tell Lita as she slowly worked her way into convincing Lita to go shopping with her. It was so difficult trying to get her friend to go shopping with her. She was surprised to learn that Lita already had plans for that day. She was even more surprised to know those plans involved John. It was still shocking news even though she knew her friend liked John a little more than just a friend, but it kind of came out of nowhere.

Lita rolled her eyes as she continued to get ready for her date which was something she was doing when Trish randomly came barging into her room. She was about to say something, but Trish beat her to it.

"You're not going to change?" The blonde asked as she looked the redhead who just emerged from the bathroom and observed what she was wearing.

"Already did."

"Jeans and a top? Well, cute top, but jeans? Wear a skirt with it. I'm sure we can find something that can go with that top and if you don't have anything that does, then it's okay because you can change completely. Or even wear a dress. Or I could run back home because I have something that could go with that."

Lita looked up from where she was looking for something in her dressing table and gave Trish a disgusted look. "A skirt? A dress? Are you forgetting who you're talking to? There is no way in hell-"

"It's a date-" Trish interrupted her friend only to be interrupted back.

"It's two friends hanging out together."

"A date," Trish insisted. "A second date actually."

Lita rolled her eyes once again and returned her attention back to the jewelry scattered on the dressing table before speaking. "That was not a date and neither is this. But if you want to put a label on it then I guess you're right. But I'm not about to wear a skirt or a dress so don't bring it up again. I like what I'm wearing and I'm not changing."

"And what label would be put on you and John?" Trish innocently asked as she decided to ignore what Lita said about not wanting to change.

"Friends."

"For now," Trish muttered under her breath which didn't go unheard by her irritated friend.

"Shut it."

"I was so right and I won the bet against Edge and Christian!" Trish exclaimed excitedly as she made her way over to her friend. "Thank you for that by the way." Lita said nothing in response even though she wanted to remind her friend how stupid that bet was in the first place and how she didn't appreciate it at all. "If you insist on wearing that outfit, then you wear this bracelet," she said picking up the piece of jewelry she was talking about and handing it to her friend who accepted it only to put it back down where Trish got it from. Trish didn't notice that action because she was too busy going through Lita's drawers. "You have any skirts in here or do you keep them in your closet?"

Lita looked down at Trish who was currently going through her drawers. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Looking for a something that could go with that top."

"Stop going through my things. Could you go ask Christy if she has my black and red bracelet with the things on them? She'll know what I'm talking about and if she doesn't look for it, tell her to because I can't find it here and I know she took it."

"Alright," was all Trish said as she walked to Christy's room to do as Lita asked. She was going to wait to see the piece of jewelry before voicing her opinion of whether or not Lita should wear it.

"Finally," Lita said when Trish left the room. She, not Christy, actually had the bracelet she was talking about. But she just needed a break from her friend and to finish getting ready in peace so making Trish go look for something in Christy's room when it was in her room just gave her some time by herself.

"Found it," Lita said when she entered her sisters room a couple of minutes later and showed the two who looked over at her, the bracelet she was supposedly looking for in her hands. "I guess you actually did give it back."

Trish shook her head. "No way. That does not go at all. I don't like it."

"Whatever." Lita didn't care because it wasn't like she was going to wear it in the first place. She knew asking Trish to go to Christy's room to help the younger teen to look for a bracelet she already had in her room was going to give her enough time to finish getting ready in sleep.

"Okay. Let's go back in your room so I can do your hair and makeup."

"Nope. I want it light and you're going to do the total opposite. Let me do what I want to do."

"Please! Don't deprive me of this!"

"Keep her in here," Lita said to her sister who looked amused by the two friends interaction.

"Hell no." Trish said as she followed Lita into the latter's room. "So makeup-"

"No."

The blonde decided to ignore her as she looked over the redhead's small collection. "So what are you two going to do? Then I guess we can decide how much is appropriate."

"I don't know," Lita truthfully answered. "But it doesn't matter because I'm getting myself ready. I don't need nor want your help."

"The last time you went on a date was a long time ago." Trish was about to say more but Lita cut her off.

"Not really. Maybe. Who cares? It doesn't matter so please leave me alone and let me finish this up in peace."

"Finish this up? Do you even care how you look?"

"Shut up." Was the last thing Lita said as she continued getting herself ready with the occasional comment and attempt of help from her well meaning but very annoying friend.

* * *

John knocked on the door in front of him after he arrived to Lita's house. As he waited, he couldn't help but wonder if Randy would even have a clue why he was there in the first place if he were the one to open the door or see him there. That could be fun. It was kind of funny how this whole thing with Lita started as a way to get on Randy's nerves and as a bet, but now, it wasn't about any of that. In the middle of it all, he actually began to like the redhead as more than a friend.

There was a brief moment when he thought whether or not to tell her about the bet, but then decided against it even though Jeff pushed him towards that way. His cousin could be a real pain in the ass sometimes. Sometimes John thought it would be Jeff who told Lita if she were to find out about his initial intentions. It wasn't a big deal and maybe Lita would feel the same too. Or not. The Lita he got to know better recently would be pissed and probably want to pummel him so he was just going to try and avoid that.

"What do you want?" John heard which took him out of his thoughts. He looked up and saw Randy staring at him. He couldn't help it when a smirk formed on his face when he realized the other teen knew nothing.

"I'm here to see Lita."

"Too bad, she was just about to head out. Trish was going on about some date, some crap like that."

"I know," John said and that's when it Randy realized it was John who his sister was about to head out with. On a date.

Randy started laughing like John just said the funniest thing he ever heard. He calmed down enough to speak again. "You're joking. She would never agree to go out on a date with you."

John shook his head. "Nope, but you can think that if that makes you feel better."

Randy frowned and was about to say something, but that's when his mom showed up behind. "Hi John," Karen smiled at the teen who did the same. "I think she's just finishing, she should be down soon. You can wait inside."

John hesitated before nodding and following Karen inside the house. He was sure he didn't want to wait around inside with Randy sending glares his way. And he was sure he didn't want to wait around with Lita's father doing the same. Or worse. He heard some horror stories from Jeff who heard them from Matt and that's the first time he realized he was about to go out on a date with his cousin's ex-girlfriend. Oh well.

"Um, hi sir," John said after he entered the living room to see Lita's father was there.

"Hello." Bob looked confused that John was there. It wasn't like it was the first time John was at the house. He knew the teen was friends with his daughter, but he was still confused why he was there.

Randy took it upon himself to clear up any confusion his father may have. "He's here to pick up Lita," he said as he sat down on the opposite end of the couch his dad was sitting on, John on the other empty couch Karen told him to sit on before she went upstairs to tell her daughter her date was here. "Because they're going out. On a date. Together. On a date. The two of them. On a date. By themselves. On a date. Alone. On a date."

John rolled his eyes at how many times Randy kept saying 'on a date' and the different variations he used to express that John and Lita were going to be alone. Clearly this was bugging his teammate. Or former teammate since the season was over and it wasn't like either of the two were returning to high school next year.

"John, did you know my dad's a cop?" Randy asked with a smirk present on his face. "Well, he works as one for the NSA in Fort Meade. Did you know that?"

John didn't say anything in response to that. He knew Lita's dad worked in law enforcement, he just didn't know is was at a military base and that just made him a little more intimidating.

"Where are you taking my daughter?" Bob asked after a long moment of uncomfortable silence. Or maybe not so uncomfortable, John preferred the silence.

"Um, ice skatin?" John had no clue why that sounded more like a question than an answer.

"Where? There's a place about ten minutes from here."

John nodded as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I know, but there's this place in Columbia I like going to better."

"And why are you taking her to Columbia?"

John shrugged. "It's better."

"I will find out if you took her somehwere else," Bob said and John had a feeling that was true. "Her curfew is at eleven, but since it's two right now, I don't expect her to be out with you for nine hours. I expect her home at a reasonable time. Three hours should be enough. That's more than enough."

John simply nodded. And what the hell was taking Lita so long? He could see how amused and satisfied Randy looked from the corner of his eye. He wanted to get out of there right about now. Maybe he could just excuse himself and go wait in the car. Yea, he had a feeling that wouldn't work out to well with Lita's dad.

Fortunately for him, he didn't have to wait any longer. He heard voices of two arguing females and wasn't surprised when he saw the voices belonged to Trish and Lita.

"Wow," John said as he got up from where he was seated when he saw Lita enter the living room along with her mom and friend. "You look great. And that came out like I'm surprised that you look beautiful and that's not how I meant it. You always look pretty even when you're wearing something like your gym clothes even after a game or practice. You look nice in anything."

He stopped himself from continuing with the rambling when he heard faint sounds of everyone in the room laughing at him. It was like they were trying not to laugh, well except Randy who was full on laughing, but we're failing at their attempt. He looked at Lita and saw she looked just as embarrassed a he felt.

"You look nice," he quickly said.

"Um, thanks. You look nice too," Lita said before turning her attention to Trish and whispering to her friend. "Told you jeans were fine and that I didn't have to wear a dress or a skirt." Trish rolled her eyes at her friend. And even though that was said in a whisper and probably only meant for Trish's ears, John still heard her.

"She looks great in anything." John didn't realize he said that out loud until he saw Lita's cheeks turning a shade of red to match that of her hair and heard Randy laughing again and calling him an idiot. "And I'm gonna shut up now."

"Please," an embarrassed redhead said before glancing between her parents. "Um, we're gonna leave now."

"Remember what I said John," Bob said before the two teens could leave. "Three hours. I want her home by 5:30. And when I say 5:30, I don't mean in the morning. I have connections and I will find you if you're late. I will find you if you do anything to upset and hurt my daughter. Or if you do anything innapropriate."

"Dad," Lita groaned, interrupting her father before he could get any further with the threat. She was beginning to feel even more embarrassed than before.

"That's not my intention sir."

"Then what are your intentions?"

"Mom! Make him stop! Please!" Lita begged her mom who did just that.

"Let them go now," Karen said to her husband who looked like he was about to say more. She didn't care what he was about to say and turned her attention to the two teens. "Have fun and don't listen to him. Just don't stay out forever," she said more so to her daughter who simply nodded at that.

John and Lita tried to leave the house again, but not before Bob could add something else. "Just remember John, I carry a gun with myself all the time."

"Dad! Please stop." She noticed John stopped walking when he heard what her father just said and tenses up a bit. "Just ignore him."

"But he does?"

Lita nodded and tried not to laugh at the frightened look on John's face. It was easier said then done. "Yup, but he's not going to use it. He just trying to scare you which is clearly working." She couldn't help it and began laughing which earned her a look. "I'm sorry. Let's just go. Where are we going by the way?"

"You're just gonna have to wait and see."

* * *

"Ice skating?" Lita asked as she stared at the building in front of them almost half an hour later when they finally arrived to their destination.

"Yea," John replied as he drove around looking for a parking spot. He didn't realize how crowded it would be, but it was a Saturday afternoon so he should have known. He spotted one and pulled into it before continuing. "I thought this could be fun."

"Oh," was all Lita said as she continued to stare at the bulding not to far away from them.

John finished parking the car and looked up at Lita who he could tell looked anxious for some reason he had no clue about. "Is something wrong?"

Lita let out a sigh as she looked away from the rink and at John. "I've never been," she admitted and he didn't think it was a big deal until the next words left her mouth. "Like I've been to a rink a couple of times before, I just never been out on the ice. I never even put on the damn skates. I've always been afraid of slicing my leg open or something similar to that if I were to fall."

John didn't say anything for a moment because he was surprised by her admission. He thought she was pretty brave and nothing really scared her. This was the first time he ever seen her look so scared and he felt bad for thinking how cute she looked. "I'm sure that's not going to happen."

"It could."

John didn't say anything for a moment, instead glancing between Lita and the building in front of them. "We can always do something else," he suggested before he was about to start the car again until he felt her hand on top of his own to stop him from doing so. He looked at her, questioning her and she quickly removed her hand from his.

Lita looked away from a moment before looking back at him and answering his silent question. "Um, it's it's it's fine."

"Red, if you're uncomfortable-"

Lita shook her head. "No John. It's um it's fine. Really. It is. You might have to teach me how to skate without making a complete fool out of myself so it might be a blow to my ego but I'll handle it," she joked trying to lighten the mood but it didn't work.

"Are you sure? Because there are other things we can do."

Lita nodded. "Positive. Maybe I should get over my fears. I always wanted to try it because it looks like fun, maybe now's my chance to do so."

"If you're sure."

Lita rolled her eyes while she unbuckled her seat belt. "Hundred percent. Well... close enough. Let's go. Time's a wasting." She smirked before adding the next part. "You have to get me home by 5:30 before my dad goes on a man hunt looking for you."

John shook his head. "Real comforting."

"Ouch!" Lita shouted for the billionth time the past hour. The two had been skating for a little close to an hour now and Lita was slowly getting over her fear of slicing her leg open with the skates, but she kept falling.

John offered her a hand as he helped her up. "Well, you're getting better."

"Skating isn't supposed to be this hard," Lita complained before the two began to skate again. She held on to the railing next to her although there were signs saying not to do that, she just didn't care. "I don't ever fall this much."

"There's a difference between regular skating and ice skating. The big difference being the ice. And well, the skates too. Plus, this is your first time so it's expected._" And the fact that you're still probably scared of cutting your leg_, he silently added to himself.

"Shit," Lita said when she almost fell again. Luckily for her, John grabbed her arm and tried to hold her steady, but that seemed to be a stupid thing to do because he lost his balance and instead of just her falling down, both of them fell.

The two simply looked at one another as they sat still on the ground before they burst into laughter.

"My body is going to be filled with bruises tomorrow," Lita said after she was able to calm down a bit.

She saw the smirk form on John's face and had a feeling she knew where he was going with it. "It's okay. I'll just have to kiss all the booboo's to make them go away."

Lita tried to look offended by what he just said, but failed at that when she began to laugh again. "You're disgusting."

"The offer is still on the table."

"Shut up perv."

The two got up from the floor, Lita much more slowly than John and he could tell all that falling was taking a toll on her. "You want to stop for a while?" John suggested. "Or we could do something else."

Lita shook her head. "No I'm fine. Believe it or not, I'm still having fun even though I keep falling on my ass."

"So am I," John smiled at her with her returning the gesture. She surprised him when she took one of his hands into her own, but kind of made it clear when she spoke.

"Just make sure I don't fall anymore."

"I'll try."

"Do more than just try."

John didn't say anything in response, simply laughed at that as the two continued to skate at a slower pace than before. He preferred to go fast, but he knew she had to be hurting at the moment so he didn't mind the slow pace.

The two skated in silence for a while, just enjoying the company of the other until John decided that was enough silence.

"So you suck at everything you do or just ice skating?"

Lita was able to keep herself from playfully slapping him on the arm when she realized one of her hands was still in his and she could fall if she let go of him or even used the other hand to hit him.

"Shut up. I'm great at everything I do, you just happened to pick the only thing I have never done before so obviously it's gonna take me a while to get used to it."

John rolled his eyes good naturedly. "Sure it is."

"I can kick your butt at anything. You name it and I'll do better than you. If this was regular skating, then I would have challenged you to a race and beat you."

"I'm not one to back away from a challenge."

"Then don't."

John thought about it for a moment before he threw something out there. "Mini golf. Or maybe bowling."

"I am like the best bowler ever and I can beat you in mini golf too."

"Is it smart to turn our second date into something competitive?"

Lita arched a brow as she glanced at John before looking back in front of her. Even though she felt like she had less chance of falling now that he was kind of helping her with the balance by holding hands, she didn't want to take the chance of falling by not looking in front of her. "Is there gonna be a second date?"

"You tell me."

Lita bit her lip out of nervousness before giving him an answer. "We'll see. Keep being mean to me and there won't be."

"Hey, I'm nice, you're the one who's mean," John replied.

"How cute!" The two heard someone speak up from behind them before Lita could reply to them which made them move over to the side and stop in place to turn around to see who the voice belonged to even though Lita had a bad feeling she knew exactly who spoke from behind them. Lita immediately scowled when her suspicion as confirmed and she saw Stacy along with her minions.

"Hey Lita," Torrie smiled at the redhead who tried to give her a chance since one of her best-friends was dating her. Lita still didn't think of her as a friend, but they were making progress. The blonde was inadvertently ignored since the other teen was too busy glaring at Stacy.

Lita was about to say something, but Stacy beat her to it. "How sweet. Just the other day John was kissing me only for him to move onto you and hold your hand to protect you from falling."

Lita looked over at John who looked right at Stacy and seemed to be just as irritated as she was. She took her hand out of his hold before looking back at Stacy. "I'm sure he wouldn't do that. Afterall, your kisses do send people to the clinic."

"You bitch." Stacy looked like she wanted to hit Lita who basically dared her to do so. She was itching to hit the blonde bimbo and self defense was a pretty good excuse. But that never happened because Stacy had other plans. "Oh my God!" She shouted, pretending to be scared while pointing behind Lita. "It's Carlito! He's here! He's probably going to try to drug tou again!"

Lita couldn't help but to turn back around when she didn't see anything and heard Stacy laugh. She saw both Torrie and Candice giving their friend a disproving look.

"You little-" she looked like she was about to grab the other teen and start hitting her, but John grabbed her and pulled her away.

"I would say it was nice talking to you, but it really wasn't," John said right before he could get Lita away from Stacy and off the ice completely.

"That wasn't funny," Torrie said after the two teens were gone and her, Candice, and Stacy were alone.

Candice nodded in agreement. "She's right. You shouldn't have said that."

Stacy rolled her eyes at her two friends. "It was just a joke. Both of you have turned soft and into idiots ever since you," she said focusing her attention on her fellow blonde, "decided to see that whores bitch," she said referring to Edge.

Torrie glared at Stacy. Sometimes she questioned why she was friends with the other teen in the first place. Torrie was probably in the minority but she saw there was more good than bad to Stacy, but sometimes she could be so unbearable like right now. "Don't call him that. And she's not that bad once you kind of get to know her."

"Yea, I don't care about either of those two. I just want to know what the hell John sees in her all of a sudden," she said as she observed the two in question when they were returning the rental skates and looked to be heading out. "Just a couple of months ago, the two couldn't stand one another and now they're on a damn date."

"People change. Opinions change."

Stacy shook her head and focused her attention back to hr friends when John and Lita were gone and out of sight. "That's not it. There's more to it and I'm going to find out."

Torrie rolled her eyes. "Get over it. He doesn't like you, he likes her. Deal with it." She paused for a moment before continuing. "We came here to have fun, so let's do that."

Torrie skated off with Candice doing the same. Stacy, on the other hand, stayed back for a bit. She looked back over to the door where John and Lita left not long ago. There had to be a reason why John was suddenly so infatuated by Lita and she was going to find out.

Another hour or so later and John and Lita were standing on the porch in front of the latter's house.

"Um thanks. I had a great time." She rolled her eyes when she remembered that wasn't entirely true. "Well, other than the whole Stacy thing." John explained to her what Stacy meant by the kiss when they were out of the ice skating rink even though Lita didn't ask him for an explanation. "She's such a fucking psychotic bitch."

John let out a small laugh which earned him a confused look. "I used to call you that before I actually started liking you."

Lita scowled. "Do not compare me with her."

John held out his hands in defense. "Chill. I'm not doing that. I'm just saying I thought of you as that before." Lita didn't say anything, instead looking away from John. "I had great time too. So about that second date..."

Lita smirked, Stacy forgotten about for the moment. "Only if you're lucky."

"I would say so." He was about to say more, but was stopped when the porch lights were flashing on and off. It was some time after five, but before six. but it was kind of dark so the two noticed the lights. "What the hell?"

Lita let out a sigh and shook her head. "That has to be either dad or Randy."

"My money's on your dad."

"Yea well-" The two looked over at the door when they heard the door open. "You lost your money," she said glaring at Randy although she was talking to John. "What the hell do you want? Were you standing by the door ever since I left?"

Randy rolled his eyes. "No Li, I do have a life of my own."

Lita snorted. "Clearly. You can go back inside."

"I'll wait for you and we can go inside together."

"Do you want to get punched? Because I can make that happen. I would love to hit someone right about now."

"Date went that horrible, huh?" Randy asked a bit too enthusiastic if you asked the other two.

John rolled his eyes. "Don't you wish."

"Duh."

"No dumbass," Lita said before John could say anything. "As a matter of fact, we were just talking about a second date."

If John didn't know any better, he would think Lita was only agreeing to a second date to spite her brother, but he knew that wasn't the case because she did look like she was going to agree back at the rink and before Randy interrupted them.

Randy looked over at John before he spoke. "Don't feel too special because she's only agreeing to get on my nerves."

Lita rolled her eyes. "Shut up! My life does not revolve around you. Don't speak," she said when it looked like her twin wanted to say something. She was surprised when he stayed queit.

Lita turned around to look back at John. The two stood their awkwardly looking at one another like they didn't know what to do now and the fact that Randy was still standing there didn't help matters.

"So um, I guess I'll talk to you later," John said after a while to which Lita nodded.

John turned around and was about to leave, but Lita stopped him by grabbing his arm and turning him back around. He was about to ask her why she did that, but she answered the question before he could arms when he felt her lips on his own. He was surprised she kissed him, but he immediately responded when he got over the shock. Neither of the two noticed, but Randy looked disturbed and went back inside.

"Not that I'm complaining or anything," John began to say after the kiss ended, "but did you do that to piss off Randy or because you wanted to?"

Lita shrugged. "Both, but I'm kind of leaning towards the second."

John smiled and closed the gap between them, kissing her again. "I'm sure he's still watching from inside. And I might have wanted to do that too."

Lita simply smiled at him before going inside the house with John walking towards his car. He laughed when he heard Randy say something about her putting a show on for the neighbors and then him yelling in pain followed by Lita telling him to shut up. That just put the cherry on top of an overall great date.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Tell me what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	17. Chapter 17

"Don't you just love this time of year?!" Trish gushed a couple of weeks later. She, along with Lita, Stephanie and Victoria were at the mall. Some of them had some last minute Christmas shopping to do and decided it would be fun to go together.

"You mean how freezing it is outside?" Lita asked as the group of four walked into the mall.

"I think she means how it's winter break and how we don't have school for like another week," Victoria piped up.

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "You two are dense. She means Christmas and just the holiday season in general."

Lita and Victoria stayed queit for a while before the former turned her attention to the latter. "This much coldness is only welcomed if it comes with lots and lots of snow. Even a little. You know we get snow day for the lamest thing. Remember last year, the snow storm that wasn't and we were off?"

Victoria nodded in agreement. "And we don't have to make them up because we're seniors. Our last day is still going to be May 17th no matter what."

"Oh it would be perfect if we could get like a whole week off."

"Yes."

"Unbelievable." Trish shook her head as the four finally made it inside of the mall. She stopped to turn around to look at the two. "You two are so annoying. You're like the Grinch. Where's your holiday spirit?" She rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the brunette next to her when the other two began laughing at her. "Come on Steph, you can help me figure out what to buy. All of a sudden, I don't feel like helping those two. That's what they get for waiting this late."

"I thought you said you already bought all of your gifts," Victoria said after she was able to calm down some.

Trish rolled her eyes. "I'm shopping for myself now. I got paid yesterday."

"I didn't know Jeff was paying you now," Lita laughed with Victoria joining in once again. "That's so sweet of him."

"Haha. Very funny. No idiot. Edge and Christian finally paid up. So I guess I can thank you for my little shopping spree today," she said referring to the bet she had with the other two blondes about Lita and John and whether or not and when they would start a relationship. "Feel free to break up or stop going out with him or whatever because I already won."

The redhead glared at her friend. "I still hate you three for that."

Trish shrugged before grabbing Stephanie by the arm and walking away. "Don't care."

"So where to first?" Victoria asked Lita when the other two were out of sight.

Lita shrugged as she made her way to the mall directory a couple feet away. "I don't know. Do you know where you need to go?"

Victoria nodded. "Yup. I already know what I need to get and from where so let's do you first. Who do you still have left?"

"My brother." She let out a sigh as she turned her attention away from the huge map to her friend before finishing. "And John. Guys are already hard enough to shop for and... I don't know. I really don't know."

"Alright. Let's start with Randy then and maybe shopping for him will give you ideas for John."

Lita scoffed. "I doubt it. All I can think about getting my brother is a video game and I don't even know if he plays them."

Victoria didn't say anything in response as she turned her attention back to the directory. "Well," she began to say after she looked over the different stores in the mall, "there are like three sports stores here and Randy loves football so I'm sure you can find something in there."

"Maybe. It's upstairs, towards the middle. Let's go," Lita said before walking away with Victoria joining her. "But what would I get him?"

Victoria thought about it for a while as the two made their way up the stairs and towards the store. "Maybe a jersey. Who's his favorite football player."

Lita shrugged. "How am I supposed to know that. I think someone who catches the ball. Or maybe some dude who throws it."

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Wow. Have you not learned anything watching those football games all these years?"

"The better question should be if I tried learning anything."

"Clearly the answer is no," Victoria said as the two walked into the first store and the teen had a feeling this was the only of the three they were going to stop by. "Do you know his favorite team? You could always get a jersey or even something else of his favorite team." She asked as the two made there way to the section where the various jerseys were. She was met by silence, but the look on her friends face gave her a clear answer. "You don't know what he'll like, you don't even know if he'll like video games, who his favorite player is. Do you know anything about your brother?"

"I know plenty about my brother. I'm sorry if I don't pay attention to every little detail of his life."

"Whatever. Let's just hope your boyfriend a little better."

"We have not put a label on or our relationship so don't call him that."

Victoria didn't say anything in response as she let out a sigh as she looked around. There was one specific thing that stuck out to her. "There's a lot of Ravens things in here. Obviously, we're in Baltimore. Does he like them?" Lita shrugged. "Maybe the Redskins?"

"I don't know."

"How about the Eagles? They're pretty close too. Sort of."

"How am I supposed to know!" Lita groaned in frustration. "How about I get him whatever and I'll make sure I get the gift receipt and he could always come back and exchange whatever I get him for what he actually wants."

"Really?" Victoria asked to which Lita nodded. "Alright then. Just make sure you pick the right size at least in case by some miracle, you pick something he actually wants."

"Wouldn't it be funny if I picked someone he doesn't like. Or from a team he really doesn't like," Lita laughed as she randomly chose a jersey. "I hope I do that. The expression on his face would be funny."

"What a wonderful sister you are."

"So does this guy catch the ball?" She asked Victoria who rolled her eyes and shook her head.

The older of the two took the item from the younger ones hands and place it back before picking up another. "This one does."

"Great," Lita said as the two made their way to the check out counter so she could purchase the present for her brother. "That was easy. He might not like it, but at this point, I really don't care. He could always exchange it."

"Is this how you shopped for everyone?" Lita simply shook her head in response as it fell into silence between to the two. It wasn't long after that they were out of the store and now looking for another one so she could get John something. "How many dates have you two been on? I'm sure you have learned something about him by now."

"Getting him something shouldn't be this hard. I mean, we did just start going out. I don't want to overdue it, but I don't want to give him something lame as well. He likes sports so why not just go back where we came from and just get him something from there? Maybe a football or something else like that would be like the best thing to get him."

"You want to go back to where we just came from?" Lita nodded. "We just left. We're already on the other side of the mall."

"What's your point?" Lita asked as she turned around so they could go back to the store they just left. "Stop being lazy. Come on." Victoria groaned as she reluctantly followed her friend.

* * *

Elsewhere, John was in his room along with Chris and Jeff. The trio was playing a video game the former had purchased a few days earlier. Well, John and Chris were playing while Jeff was just observing.

"You suck!" Chris shouted at John. He was actually only beating the other teen by a couple of points and there was still some time left for that to change, but he was still going to gloat.

"You both suck," Jeff said while he watched the two play against one another.

"Says the one who didn't want to play. You just didn't want to get your ass kicked like John is right now."

John scoffed. "I would hardly call being in the lead by five points kicking my ass."

"Oh! And that's another basket," Chris smirked taking a moment to glance at John before looking back at the screen. "That's another two points."

John rolled his eyes. "Just shut up and play."

Chris laughed when he made yet another basket and his lead against John just kept increasing. "You wanna give up yet?"

John rolled his eyes as he tossed the controller to Jeff. "Please shut him up."

"My pleasure," Jeff said as he eventually did as John said. "You were saying?" He smugly asked a few minutes later after he finished the game for John and beat Chris.

"You were just lucky," Chris said tossing the controller nearby.

"Play me from start to finish."

"Maybe another time," Chris said as he got up from where he was sitting. "I have to go home." He was about to walk out the door, but that's when something came to mind. "Remind me to that I owe you a hundred." He smirked before continuing. "Or is it more?"

John rolled his eyes when he immediately knew what Chris was talking about. But it was Jeff who spoke up first. "Can you two not talk about this while I'm in the room so that way I can deny knowing anything and kind of not be lying?"

Unfortunately for her, the two continued their conversation and ignored him. "It's none of your damn business and I already told you a while ago that I was out. So how about we stop talking about this?"

"How about you tell her?" Jeff innocently suggested.

"How about you shut up."

"I think you should. Maybe she won't be too upset."

"Again. Shut up."

Jeff held his hands up in defense when he decided to stay quiet. "Fine. I'll just stay out of this."

"That's all I ask," John said before turning his attention back to Chris. "I meant it a couple weeks ago when I told you I didn't want to go along with this any further."

Chris chuckled before speaking. "You like her."

"No shit sherlock."

The blonde teen shrugged. "I thought you were bluffing. Thought you were still playing the game."

John shook his head. "Not a game. Hasn't been for a while."

Jeff thought this would be the best time to speak up again. "Then maybe-"

"I know I told you to shut up," John glared at his cousin who backed down once again.

"Gotta go," Chris said before leaving the room so he could go back home.

Meanwhile, Lita had just arrived to John's house. She wanted to make a quick stop at his house before she went back home. She wanted to give him his Christmas gift since she was going to be with family all day tomorrow and probably wouldn't get a chance to see him and give it to him then. Unfortunately for her, she did not expect to see a certain ex-boyfriend there as well.

"This is going to be fun," Chris laughed when he walked out of the house and saw Lita walking towards the front door and someone else pull up a few feet away.

Lita looked up when she heard those words and heard someone laugh to see Chris standing a few feet away from her. "Um hi Chris." The blonde didn't say anything as he continued to laugh. A confused redhead followed his gaze and winced when she realized what he was talking about a few moments ago.

"Why is he here?" Lita wasn't looking for an answer, but unfortunately for her, Chris still gave her one.

"Well, this is his Aunt's house so..." Chris trailed off when he was on the other side of a glare.

"Shut up."

"You and John belong together, both are equally mean," Chris muttered under his breath. "I really do wish I could stay to watch this, but unfortunately, I really have to go home now," he said before walking away. "Enjoy."

Lita didn't have time to think about what she was going to do because that was when Matt popped up. "Hi."

Lita took a deep breath before turning around to face her ex-boyfriend. "Hey Matt. What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to pick up my brother. Better question is what are you doing here?"

"Nothing. Just, ya know, chilling."

Matt gave her a suspcious look. "Right. Just chilling outside of John's house. You don't even like him. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be coming here to visit his parents or even his brothers if either of those two are here."

Lita let out a nervous laugh. "No. It's not... no. Yea. I don't know. I'm gonna go." But before she could do as she said, someone else spoke up.

"Oh this is going to be good." Lita turned around to see both John and Jeff were now outside as well. "Hey Li."

"Hi," she responded to Jeff before turning her attention to John. "Hey um, hi. Hello. What's up?"

"Hi. You okay?" John asked to which Lita simply nodded, but he didn't believe her especially since he saw Matt standing a few feet away. He didn't know what the big deal was, but it was very clear to him that she was uncomfortable. "I didn't know you were going to stop by."

Matt spoke up before Lita could. "Why would you know? Why would she even stop by in the first place?" He was pretty confused by what was going on. Last he knew, Lita couldn't stand John and he was pretty sure the feeling was mutual. He himself wasn't too fond of John, and once again the feeling was mutual, but they were family so both of them put up with it as best as they could. Unfortunately for him, he was ignored as Lita answered John's question.

"I wanted to give you your Christmas present," she gestured towards the bag in her hand, "now because I won't be able to do that tomorrow and then it won't be Christmas after that so yea, I'm here and I probably should have called or sent a text or something because now this is kinda awkward because Matt is also here and you're here and obviously you're here because this is you're house and I keep talking so I should just shut up, but here you go," she paused for a moment, taking a much needed breath as she handed John the bag and he accepted it. "Merry Christmas. Don't open it until tomorrow though. Or maybe you can. I don't really care. Or-"

"Hey," John interrupted, placing a hand on Lita's shoulder, a gesture which surprised Matt. "Relax. You're about to ramble all over again."

"What's going on here?" Matt asked, hoping to get an answer this time. Fortunately for him, the two were finally paying him some attention.

John waited for Lita to say something, but when she didn't he decided maybe he should speak up. "You and Lita broke up many months ago and there comes a point in time when people move on-"

"So what?" Matt cut him off. "You two are dating now?"

"Not that it's any of your concern, yes," Lita said before John. "Do you have a problem with that?" She didn't wait for him to give her an answer as she focused her attention to John. "I'm gonna go now."

"You don't have to."

"Oh no, I think I do."

"Okay well let me at least give you-"

"That can wait. I really have to go. My grandparents are coming into town and I have to pick them up from the airport," she said which wasn't a total lie. Their flight wasn't due to land for another hour and her parents were probably going to end up going, but no one had to know that. "Okay bye," Lita said before giving John a quick kiss and then leaving.

Jeff laughed as the trio watched Lita drive away. "I was hoping for more, but that will do for now," he said before walking to the car.

"Good luck with that one. Who knows? Maybe she won't cheat on you," Matt said before walking away.

John simply rolled his eyes, not saying anything in response as he watched the two drive away before going back inside.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. :)**

**So I know this chapter was bleh, but it's gonna get better.**


	18. Chapter 18

Winter break ended the following week which meant school was back in session. The ten days seemed to go by like a blur. Luckily enough, it snowed Wednesday night into Thursday afternoon so school was canceled on Thursday, but they were back to it on Friday. John didn't understand why they had to go back to school on Friday and why they couldn't just be off until Monday. Going to school for only one day out of the week felt like such a waste. He just couldn't wait until graduation in May, but January had just begun so they were about four and a half months and many classes, assignments, and exams away from the last day of high school.

John walked into homeroom to see his girlfriend was already there, but it looked like she could be sleeping because she had her head down on the table. "Hey Red," he said as he took his seat right next to her and began taking his books for the class of of his backpack. He heard her mumble something, he just couldn't make out the words.

"You got enough sleep last night?" John asked even though he was sure he knew the answer. "You had two extra hours," he said referring to the fact that school was scheduled to begin two hours late due to the snow.

Lita lifted her head from the table to look at her boyfriend. "Shut it Cena. I'm trying to get some peace and quiet these next five minutes and you're ruining it for me. I really thought school was going to be closed so I went over to Trish's when I should have been sleeping so I'm really tired right now."

"What? You rather sleep than talk to me?" Lita rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything in response before laying her head back down on the table. "And here I thought you started to like me."

"You're annoying me," Lita said which John was able to hear even though her head was back down on the desk and h r voice was muffled.

"That's my favorite thing to do."

Once again, Lita lifted her head to look up at John, a scowl present on her face. "Go jump off a bridge. That would be my favorite thing to watch," she said which made John laugh. "I hate you."

John gestured towards her wrist before speaking. "Is that why you're wearing the bracelet I got you?"

The redhead looked down at her wrist and saw the black beaded skull bracelets he gifted to her for Christmas a little over a week ago. She looked back up at John and shrugged. "I'm wearing black so it goes with my outfit."

"Just admit you're wearing it because you like me."

Lita rolled her eyes. "You're annoying."

John pouted. "You're mean."

"Did I hurt the little baby's feelings?" John smirked and opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, Lita placed her hand over his mouth. "Don't."

The brunette rolled his eyes and removed the redheads hand away from his mouth. "I didn't say anything."

"Let's keep it that way."

John was about to say something, but that was when the teacher spoke. "I know we don't have anytime for class today and we didn't have school yesterday, but the test is still on Monday as scheduled," Mr. Regal said as he handed out packets to each student. That earned him a collective groan from his students. "I gave you plenty of time to study. You had all winter break to study-"

"Because normal people study during break," John sarcastically muttered under his breath.

"-and now you have the weekend to study as well. We were going to work on the study guides today then go over the questions, but since we don't have time for that, I'm going to give you the answers as well. Just try and work on the questions before looking at the answers."

John groaned when he looked over the study guide the teacher handed out to them. "We're going to fail."

"And why couldn't he just postpone the damn thing?"

"Keep in mind that you all need to start thinking about your final projects," Mr. Regal continued. "Because we also have the AP exam to study for in the first week of May, the presentations will be in the middle of April."

"What possessed me to sign up for this class?"

"It's not like we need it so we don't really need to pass it." That earned John a glare from his girlfriend. "What? It's the truth."

"So are you suggesting we fail the class?"

John shook his head. "I'm just saying that you shouldn't stress over this. It's not like you're going to fail, neither of us are. You just need to relax." He smirked before continuing. "I'll help you study since I did do better than you on that one test."

"First of all, that was a quiz which was taken a couple of months ago in October. I had ankle problems around that time so my brain wasn't working all that well."

John laughed. "It's not working all that well now either. I mean, what's the correlation between your ankle and your brain?"

"Shut up."

"Is that your comeback for everything."

"Shut up."

"That means yes. And before you tell me to 'shut up' again, how about you come over after school and we can study together and maybe even throw some ideas for what we should do for our project."

"We have plenty of time for that."

"It's on Monday."

Lita rolled her eyes. "I was talking about the project. And okay, it could be helpful to study together. Maybe we can get Victoria and-"

"Just the two of us."

Lita simply stared at John for a while without saying anything. She let out a sigh before speaking. "I hope you know all we're going to be doing is studying."

"We could always make out when we get bored." Lita didn't say anything in response, merely shaking her head. "Well we could."

"Whatever."

"You know you like kissing me."

Lta let out a small laugh. "Not really, you're not even a good kisser."

"I'll gladly prove you wrong."

"No thanks." She burst into laughter when she saw pouty look on John's face. "I was kidding. You're not that bad of a kisser."

John smiled smugly and Lita groaned when she knew where that was going. "That's not the only thing I'm not bad at."

"You are such an idiot."

"That's mean."

"You'll live." John was about to say something, but that was when the bell rung meaning it was time to go to the next class of the day. Since school began two hours later, their first class of the day was going to be Spanish.

"Spanish has been so much better since that creep left," Lita said referring to Carlito as the duo walked to class. Coach Michaels called Carlito's mother and told her about her sons incident with Lita at school a few weeks. She was actually able to get some of the details of what happened with Lita out of his brother who heard it from others. Carlito's mom was previously having troubles with her son and this last incident just made her to take him out of school and send him to boarding school hoping that would straighten him up.

"I'm glad he's gone."

Lita nodded in agreement as the two walked inside their next class. It wasn't too far from their previous classroom so it didn't take them that long to get there. "Hopefully he stays away. I sure as hell don't miss having to worry about someone smelling or playing with my hair." She shuddered at the memories of catching Carlito doing those two things amongst others as she sat down at one of the desks in the room with John sitting down at the one next to her.

"What a freak."

Lita didn't say anything in response and it wasn't like she would have a chance to either way because that's when the Spanish teacher began speaking when he was about to being class.

* * *

It had been almost half an hour since John and Lita arrived to the formers house. Lita told her mom that she was going to study with John for a while. She was just going to tell her mom that the two were going to study at the library, but Randy couldn't keep his mouth shut and told her they actually went to John's house before she even had a chance to bring up the library. Lita didn't even know how her brother knew that bit of information. Whatever the case, her mom didn't approve until the redhead said that John's mother was home so it wasn't like they were going to be at his house unsupervised. Little did Karen know, John's mother was out of town along with his father and wouldn't be back until Sunday.

Lita looked up from her books when one of John's writing utensils came flying towards her for what felt like the billionth time the last half an hour. "Is there a reason why your pencil almost smacked me in the face?" She asked when she saw lying on the couch and he had another pencil in this hand. "And that wasn't even the first time."

The brunette shrugged as he got up and looked over at the redhead who was sitting on the carpeted floor with a couple of books on front of her. "I was playing with it and it slipped."

Lita rolled her eyes. "How old are we?" She continued without waiting for a smart remark she knew she would have received if she actually gave John a chance to say something. "You should be studying."

"It's Friday night."

"You should he studying," Lita repeated.

"It's Friday night," John said once again.

"Fine," Lita said as she returned her attention back to her books. "Have fun failing-"

"I don't even need this class- neither do you- I'm only taking it because I needed to make a full day, so I'm going to graduate no matter what."

Lita arched a brow, turning her attention back to John. "So that's means you're okay with failing?"

John shook his head. "That's not what I'm saying Red. I'm not gonna stress, I got this." He smirked before continuing. "You, on the other hand, I'm worried about because you're not that bright."

Lita scowled. "Bite me," she said which she immediately regretted when John began making his way towards her. "Get the hell away from me."

"You requested me to do something," John said as he sat down next to the redhead after he moved some of her books away, "so I'm going to obey you." He moved closer to her only for her to move away.

"Touch me and you die."

"I'm willing to take that risk," John said as he tried moving closer towards her again. Lita got up from she was sitting this time instead of moving away a little. She hoped John would leave her alone, but, unfortunately for her, that wasn't meant to be. "Where are you going?" He asked after he followed after Lita who didn't really know the answer to that question, but kept walking and now they were outside in the backyard.

"Away from you."

"But I'll miss you."

Lita rolled her eyes. "I'm willing to take that risk," she mimicked his earlier words. "Okay, bad idea coming out here in this weather without a jacket or something."

John placed an arm around her shoulders and was about to say something, but no words left his mouth as he was too busy clutching at his stomach. Lita was surprised when she felt someone touching her even though John was besides her so she ended up elbowing him in the chest.

"Oh my God." Lita said surprised by what just happened. She tried so hard not to laugh because she felt really bad, but it was kind of funny. "Why the hell would you do that?"

It took John a while to finally say something, but he did. "Are you yelling at me when you're the one who just punched me?"

Lita rolled her eyes as the two made their way back inside the house. "Stop being a drama queen. It was just an instinct. Someone just grabbed me so I was just trying to protect myself."

"First of all," John said when they were finally inside the warm house and out the cold. "I didn't grab you. Second, you knew I was with you because I was talking with you. Who is going to attack you in the backyard where it's just the two of us?"

"Like I said, natural instinct. I'm sorry," she was about to say more, but was stopped by the laugh that threatened to leave her mouth. She did feel bad for hitting him by accident, but she found it funny how it happened.

John rolled his eyes. "Go ahead and laugh because you almost killed me."

It was Lita's turn to roll her eyes as they made it back to the living room with the redhead packing up her bookbag. "You are such a drama queen."

"You could have given me a heart attack, you hit hard."

"That makes a lot sense. You don't get a heart attack by someone hitting you, idiot."

"Maybe I should change your name back to 'psychotic bitch' in my phone," John muttered under his breath which didn't go unheard by Lita.

"Excuse me?" Lita asked with a glare present on her face. This was the first she was hearing about this and it kind of pissed her off for whatever reason.

John shrugged when he knew there was no way talking himself out of this. "What? You were a psychotic bitch to me all the time not long ago and you know that's the truth. And well, you kind of have the tendency of still being one."

Lita didn't say anything for a moment as she simply stared at John who was now regretting the words that left his mouth when he saw how angry and upset she looked. She looked down at her bag and zipped it up after placing her books in it before looking back up at him. "You're a jackass."

"Okay fine. I guess we're even."

"Hell no we're not even. You calling me a 'bitch' is so much worse than me calling you a 'jackass'."

John was really confused and taken aback by her conversation because even though she didn't know what name her number used to be saved as in his phone, she did know he used to call her that before. "Are you-"

"I hate you," the redhead said as she began to walk out of the room and towards the exit of the house.

John didn't say anything for a moment as she walked away. He was really confused at how angry she was getting when he was only joking. He opened his mouth to say something, but that's when Lita stopped in place and turned around to face him. He was surprised when she looked like she was holding a laugh in and then she burst into laughter.

"Are you bipolar? Please don't kill me?" Lita didn't say anything in response because she was too busy laughing. "Yup, I was right, psycho."

"You should have seen the look on your face," the redhead said through laughter. "Why would I get mad at what you said? I don't care. I hated you back then, I probably called you worse. Not to your face, but that's not the point." She continued after she finally managed to stop laughing. "I mean, call me a psychotic bitch again and I'll show you how true that can be."

"You were just messing with me?" John asked to which Lita laughed again and nodded. "That was mean," he pouted.

Lita rolled her eyes as she walked towards John. "Get over it, you big baby." She rolled her eyes when the pout was still present on his face. "You're a big baby. I'll make it up to you," she said before moving closer to him and placing what was supposed to be a quick kiss on his lips, but he had other plans.

"I hate you," Lita said once the kiss ended. She was about to say more,but John went in for another kiss. He thought she was going to resist and end the kiss real quick, but he was wrong when she easily gave in and instantly kissed him back.

The duo pulled apart ending the kiss after a while. Lita immediately backed away some more and looked away when she began to feel very nervous. She didn't know why she felt that way, but she just did. "Um, I should go now," she began to say after a while. "Clearly we're not going to get any studying done here because you're a slacker," she joked. "And I don't even feel like doing that anymore. So I'm just... I'm just gonna go home."

"Or you could just hang out here with me for a little while longer?" John suggested. "You said so yourself you're not going to study. What are you going to do when you go home?"

Lita shrugged. "I don't know. Spend some quality time with Netflix. Maybe sleep, I'm still regretting last night," she said referring to staying up most of the night with Trish because she thought they would be off that day as well.

"We have Netflix too."

"I wanted to watch 'The Notebook'. It's my favorite movie."

John made a face once the name of the movie left the other teens mouth. "Yea well, somehow I don't believe you."

"And you shouldn't. It wasn't bad, but definitley not something I would watch again."

"I knew I was right. You can't fool me twice Red, gotta do better than that."

Lita rolled her eyes as she placed her bag down on the floor before walking back to the living room with John. "Whatever Cena. I get to pick what watch."

John grabbed the television remote from off the coffee table and handed it over to Lita before speaking. "Fine. Just no chick flicks please."

"We'll see," was all Lita said as she began to browse through the various choices.

John took his phone out of his pocket when he felt it vibrate. He saw Chris just sent him a text message, but he didn't read it and placed the phone on the table. He looked over at Lita who was still going over the movie choices and began to feel guilty. He felt really guilty and terrible about his previous bet with Chris about Lita the more he got to know her and the more he liked her.

The brunette thought more and more of telling the redhead about the stupid bet ever since they began dating because he kept feeling worse about keeping that away from her as the days went by. John knew it was an idiotic thing to do and he should have just listened when Jeff told him it was a bad idea after Chris proposed the bet to him, but back then he really couldn't care less about Lita but that wasn't the case any longer. He knew she would be upset and he felt she would have every right to be. He did want to tell her the truth, but he really didn't want to hurt her. Maybe coming clean and starting over would be good, but what if she didn't want to start all over and wanted nothing to do with him? Maybe John didn't have to tell Lita anything because only he, Chris, and Jeff knew about the bet and he knew neither of the other two would say anything to her so it wasn't like she would have another way of finding out.

"Lita," John began to say when he decided he should just come clean. It was a possibility she would initially be mad, but then get over it if he told her the truth now rather than her finding out on her own some way.

"What's up?" Lita asked as she turned her attention away from the television screen where she thought she finally settled on a movie.

John merely stared at Lita for what felt like an eternity. She was about to say something, but he beat her to it. "I need some water," he said as he got up from the couch. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Um, no thanks. Are you okay?"

John nodded. "Perfect," before walking out of the living room and into the kitchen. He thought he was ready to tell, but backed out last minute. Maybe it was just better not to say anything to her about the bet. What she didn't know couldn't hurt her and it would just be for the best to just keep that a secret.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. :)**


	19. Chapter 19

"John," Trish began to say a few weeks later as she took a seat at the table in the cafeteria during lunch, "please tell your girlfriend that purple is not a color that belongs on your hair."

Lita rolled her eyes, placing her tray on the table in front of them as she took a seat between her bestfriend and her boyfriend. "Yes ask John what he thinks because his opinion will totally change my mind. You know it doesn't work that way blondie."

"Why purple?" Edge asked before any of the others could ask the same thing.

Lita shrugged as she took a sip of her drink. "I don't know. I want a change and purple is different."

"In a bad way," Trish spoke up to which Lita simply rolled her eyes once again.

"But if you dye your hair purple, then I'm gonna have to call you Purple," John began to say when he finally had the opportunity to speak when Trish quieted down, earning him Lita's attention, "and that just sounds wrong. I don't like that, Red suits you."

"Or, and this is just a suggestion, maybe you can, I don't know, try and call me by my real name. You do know what my actual name is, right?"

John pretended to think about it for a moment before shaking his head. "Is it Lena?" He joked before giving a semi-serious response. "Na, I'll pass. No matter what your hair color, you'll always be Red to me."

"How lovely. What are our school colors?"

John raised a brow, not believing she just asked him that question. "Four years and you don't know that answer to that. Since when did you have school spirit that you want to dye your hair one of the school colors?"

"Just answer the question."

John rolled his eyes. "What are the colors of your lacrosse uniform?" He asked referring to the spring sport she was taking a part of.

"Oh right. That makes sense. But maroon is basically red and what the hell is white? Our school sucks."

"Let's get back to the point and stay away from the freaky colors," Trish interjected before John could say anything in response to his girlfriend. "If you want to change your hair color, then do a normal color. I know I'm biased, but blonde-" she was stopped when she felt something hit her. "How mature," the blonde said when she looked down in front of her to see that the redhead threw a fry at her.

"That's enough talk about my hair. I'm going to do what I want to do no matter what anyone thinks so hush. Plus, I don't even know if I'm actually going to dye my hair. I mean, I want to, but who knows. I guess we'll see."

"Fine. Now we can talk about something that is more important: the party tonight." Trish glanced between Stephanie and Lita before continuing. "What are you two wearing? We can get ready at my house because, to no one's surprise, the parentals will not be there. I'll text Victoria in case she's feeling better," she said referring to their friend who was at home sick.

"I'm not going," Lita replied before Stephanie had a chance to say anything. "Why is there even a party in the middle of March? There's absolutely nothing going on. Spring break is like a week away, you think these people would be able to wait. Plus, it's a Friday and I just want to go home and sleep."

Trish had a disgusted look on her face even though she wasn't suprised by anything her friend just said. "You are so old," she began to say with the redhead knowing what was coming next. "I don't even know how we're friends. It doesn't make any sense. You are so lame. You never need a reason to party. It's always party time," she was about to say more, but fortunately for everyone at the table, John cut her off.

"Yea, me and Red won't be able to make it because we're having a party of our own," John winked at Lita who simply rolled her eyes in response with just about everyone else at the table giving him the same response with some groans and 'shut ups' in the mix.

Lita opened her mouth to say something, but was cut short when Trish beat her to it with the blonde saying something which made the redhead want to punch her friend. "John, just do yourself a favor, save some time, and stop trying to sleep with her because it's never gonna happen. I know it's hard to believe, but I have one word for you: prude." That earned her another couple of fries being thrown her way courtesy of topic of the discussion. "If you don't stop throwing food at me, you'll probably start a food fight and more importantly, I will most definitley kill you."

"You need to throw those pompoms down and pick up a lacrosse stick. You should join the team because I would love to practice the whole 'getting to hit the other person below the knees with the stick' on you."

Trish rolled her eyes. "Stop being so dramatic. There's nothing wrong with being known as a prude."

"According to my locker last year, I'm a whore. Can't really be both, now can I? You people are exhausting, just make up your damn minds and let me know whether I'm a prude or a whore," Lita replied only to be ignored when Stephanie broke her silence.

"And how would you know anything about being a prude?" Stephanie asked with a smirk present on her face which earned a couple of laughs. "One word: easy."

The blonde teen glared at the brunette who just spoke. "One word: I hope you get pregnant," Trish said referring to the scare Stephanie had a couple of months ago.

The previous smirk on Stephanie's face was soon replaced with a scowl. "That's more than one word dumbass. You definitely stay true to your roots, don't you?" Stephanie said gesturing to Trish's blonde hair.

"Are they being serious right now?" John whispered to Lita as the other two teens countinued their argument.

Lita shook her head. "Not really. But shhh, this is fun."

"Unlike you," Stephanie began to say after Trish threw another snide remark her way, "I actually have a bright future ahead of me. While you become the billionth woman designer, I am going to become the first woman President of this country."

"Would you vote for her?" John asked Lita to which she thought about it for a moment then shrugged.

"And I'll move back to Canada because this Country will definitely go to Hell if you're running it. Sorry, I mean ruining it."

"I'm bored," John announced to his girlfriend as the other looked to be engrossed with the blonde and the brunette continuing their argument. "The only way this can turn interesting is if it turns into a girl fight. Now that would be hot and I would definitely pay attention to that."

Lita rolled her eyes as she took her attention away from Stephanie and Trish and focused on John. "You disgust me."

John smirked. "That's not what you were saying-"

"Shut up," Lita interjected before he could get any further. "Don't finish that."

John pouted. "You're so mean to me."

"Just repeat what you were about to say a moment ago."

John simply chuckled in response as he turned his attention back to Stephanie and Trish who were seemingly done trading insults with one another. He turned his attention back to Lita when he realized the others were in the middle of a conversation which he decided he could care less about. "You know if you don't want to go to the party, then we can always do something. Just the two of us."

Lita sighed as she nodded. "Yea, but lately Trish had been whining that I'm not spending enough time with her because I'm spending all of my free time with you. She said it's been that way since we've began getting along."

"That's not true," John shook his head even though he knew there was some truth to Trish's statement. The couple were spending an awful lot of time with one another especially the last few weeks, but it wasn't like either of them was complaining, but maybe some of their friends were.

"You should come over." John immediately shook his head and Lita laughed at the look of horror on his face. "Are you seriosuly afraid of my dad?"

"He always stares at me like I did something whenever he sees me. He always finds it important to remind me that he has a gun. Oh and did I forget to mention that he has a gun?"

Lita rolled her eyes. "He's not going to use it."

"Now I understand where you get you psychoticness from. You get it from your dad. You and Randy are like your dad while Christy is sweet like your mom."

"So then what does that make you if you choose to be with a psycho like me?"

"Equally crazy."

The redhead opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted when a certain blonde made her presence known as she took a seat at the empty chair next to the brunette. "Hey John!" Stacy beamed with a smile plastered on her face.

John rolled his eyes and groaned as he looked straight at Lita who looked as annoyed as he felt. He turned around to glance at Stacy for a moment, "What's up," before turning back around to continue his conversation with his girlfriend. Unfortunately for him, Stacy had other plans.

"I miss you," Stacy continued as she tried to play off the fact that John was trying to avoid her and clearly didn't want to continue talking to her. "It's like I never see you around anymore. I better see you at my party tonight."

John shook his head as he turned his attention to the blonde who he noticed had her two minions along with her. It was like Torrie and Candice never left Stacy's side. "No. I rather spend some time with my girlfriend," he said putting emphasis on the word 'girlfriend.' He knew Lita was enjoying the glare she was receiving from Stacy right now.

"You're still with her? Why? Did she not cheat on you yet? "Stacy asked after a while after looking back at John, totally missing the look Lita was sending her. "Well, she's not welcomed to my party, but you better be there. Plus, we all remember what happened at the last party Lita went to. Too bad Carlito's not here anymore, huh?"

John was about to say something, but was stopped when Lita beat him to it. "And it's too bad you're still here. It's really sad and pathetic how hard you're trying when John clearly doesn't want anything to do with you. Is it really that difficult for you believe that he likes someone else way more than you? How about you get up and don't come back. Okay? Okay great bye."

Stacy didn't seem phased even in the slightest. "Oh sweetie, the only pathetic and delusional person here is you. It's funny and kind of sad that you believe John would actually be with someone like you."

"Well, open your eyes because it's happening."

"It will change," the blonde continued with a smirk knowing how the redhead would react after what she said next. "Ask him what happened last year. I'll give you a clue, if we were to have made a movie, it wouldn't have been family friendly" Stacy smiled when she saw how stunned Lita looked. "It's okay John," she continued after focusing her attention on the teen who was very irritated she would ever bring that up especially in front of his girlfriend who had very strong feelings of dislike towards her. "Like I said before, I'll be around when you come to your senses and this all blows over. She's totally wrong for you." She was about to get up and leave, but she decided she had one last thing to do which she knew would really piss off Lita. She kissed John on the lips and left before he or even Lita for that matter had time to react to what just happened.

It became awfully queit between the group at the table as the others glanced at one another not knowing what to say or do after what just happened while the couple simply stared at one another.

"What a bitch," Trish began to say, trying to break the silence when she began to feel very uncomfortable. "She has no life and will do anything to get to you Li. And her minions would do anything to help her. I mean, she did get Torrie to go along with her plan of her continuing to see Edge even after she wanted to break up with him only because Stacy wanted Torrie to get close to you and figure out why John liked you all of a sudden." Lita looked up at Edge in surprise because this was the first she was hearing about this. She knew the two blondes called it quit a couple of weeks ago, she just didn't know the truth as to why until now. "Oh right," Trish continued after noticing how annoyed Edge looked with her, "I wasn't supposed to say anything. Oh well. Maybe you can deck the both of them now because you know you always wanted to."

And then it became quiet again. Fortunately for all involved, the bell rang indicating it was time to go to their next class of the day which was also their last. "Oh thank God. Saved by the bell!" Trish exclaimed as she, and everyone else, got up from the table and began to walk away. "You know, I always thought Kelly and Slater would have been cuter than Kelly and Zack," was the last thing John and Lita heard as the others walked away, not noticing one of their friends was lurking nearby.

"Now I have to get checked out for STDs," Lita said, breaking her silence as the two slowly made their way to Philosophy.

"Lita-"

The redhead shook her head as she interrupted the brunette. "I don't care. I really don't care what happened with you and that slut a year ago even though I'm pretty sure I know. I don't need any details so let's not even go there. I just... ugh. Ew. Her? Really? Why? Whatever. It doesn't matter because we weren't even friends back then." Lita paused for a moment and stopped walking when the two were standing outside of their next class which was pretty close to the cafeteria. "Why didn't anyone tell me it was Stacy's party? We're going together so take like twenty showers and drink mouthwash so you can get her stench off of you. And try not letting her kiss you again because I will kill you," she finished before heading into the classroom.

"Well, that could have ended worse," John muttered to himself before walking into the room as well.

* * *

A few hours later and John found himself at Stacy's party even though he really didn't want to be there. The only reason he was at the party was because Lita wanted to make Stacy jealous by showing up with John. He went along with the plan even though he felt that was immature and so pointless because he knew the revelation that he hooked up with Stacy in the past upset Lita even though she said she didn't care. And now after being dragged to the party by his girlfriend, she was nowhere to be found so he was texting her for her whereabouts.

"What the hell?" John looked up from his phone when he saw someone shove a hundred dollar bill in front of his face. He looked up to see the hand in his face belonged to a seemingly drunk Chris. "What?"

Chris smirked taking a sip from the cup in his other hand before answering John's question. "You completed the last of the bet." John didn't say anything for a while because he was trying to figure out how Chris knew about that. He didn't even get a chance to reject the idea or verbally express what he was thinking because the other teen continued after noticing the confused look on his face. "I was walking right behind you guys when she said she needed to be checked for STDs after Stacy came to the table. Nice job."

"You're drunk," John said as he ignored everything Chris just said, neither confirming nor denying whether or not he completed the third and final part of the bet. "You should be cut off," he said trying to grab the cup out of the blondes hand only for Chris to pull it away.

"Wrong hand," Chris said as he offered John the money again. "Take it."

"No," John said as he looked around him to make sure no one, more importantly Lita, was near them and able to hear. "For the billionth time, we have been done with this bet for a long time now."

"You deserve it."

"Will you shut up before someone hears you."

"Come on John, you nailed the-"

"Fine," John said as he took the money from the drunk teen because he knew that was the only way to get Chris to leave him alone. He could always give it back to Chris when the other teen was back in his senses. "Now please shut up."

"Someone is needy," Lita said when she suddenly joined the two. "Stop blowing up my phone." She looked over at Chris and easy confused as to why he was giving her a goofy smile.

"He's drunk," John said like he read her mind. "And he needs to go away so now go away," he said to Chris who did as he was told not before winking at the two.

"Okay then," Lita said as she focused her attention back to John once the other teen was out of sight. "That was... weird. And did he just give you that?" She asked gesturing to the item in his hand.

John looked down at his hand to see the money Chris just gave him. "Um yea. For safe keepings," he said before changing the subject. "Where were you?"

Lita rolled her eyes at the memory of what she was doing not long ago. "Trish had a hair emergency," came her simple response like that should explain it all.

"John!" The two groaned when they heard that very irritating voice shout his name. Stacy walked over to the two and brushed Lita aside before hugging John who pushed her away from him. "I'm so glad you could make it!" She glanced over at an annoyed Lita before continuing. "And thank you for helping me clean up during the party, but the trash belongs outside."

"Then why aren't you leaving?" Lita asked. She was about to say more, but was cut short when John grabbed her and kissed her. She was taken aback by his sudden action, but instantly responded by kissing him back. A disgusted and pissed off Stacy left from the area as the kiss deepened with the two forgetting for a moment where they were.

"Wow," John said after the kiss ended and the two pulled apart. "Can we go now that we accomplished your goal of coming here?"

"Only if there's going to be more of that where we're going."

"Hell yea." With that said, the two began walking towards the exit so they could leave the party.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Stacy watched as the couple left her party. She was really angry how John paid no attention to her once again and the way he kissed Lita right in front of her. Why was Lita even at her party when Stacy was pretty clear on the redhead not being invited? What was supposed to be a great party ended up being real crappy.

"Chris," Stacy began to say when she realized the other blonde teen was sitting right next to her. "He's your friend, help me out with this. Why is he with her? He doesn't really like her, does he? This has to be a joke, right?"

Chris snorted. "Oh he likes her alright, but that doesn't mean it started off that way."

Stacy arched a brow. "Oh yea? Then how did it start off?"

"Three hundred bucks."

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. :)**


	20. Chapter 20

It was Monday which meant it was back to school. The weekend went by pretty quickly and John was hoping the week would fly by as well. There was only one week left that was separating him from Spring Break. A very much needed Spring Break. There would only be one and a half months of school left until graduation when they came back from break. A month and a half filled with final papers, final projects, and final exams. What a fun last few weeks that was going to be. Well, it was all going to be worth it, he was glad he was finally going to be done with high school soon.

John walked into homeroom to see Lita was already there with her head down on the lab table which had become a usual thing the last few weeks. "Hey Red," he said as he took his seat right next to her and began taking his books for the class out of his backpack. He wished Mr. Regal would give them class time to work on their final project, but nope, they still had one unit left and they still needed to prepare for the big test. He didn't understand why they had a huge project and presentation due when they also had to take the AP test. It was just too much for one class he didn't even need.

"Peace and quiet, Cena," came Lita's muffled yet understandable reply. "We go over this everyday."

"But I don't want peace and quiet. I'm bored and I want you to entertain me."

Lita let out a sigh as she lifted her head off from the table and looked and John. "And I want you to jump off a bridge, but we all can't get what we want."

"And here I thought to were beginning to like me."

Lita rolled her eyes. "Well, you're annoying me right now so I really don't like you at this moment."

"Fine, go back to sleep then."

"No," Lita said as she opened her notebook to an empty page and started to copy the notes that were written on the front board. She was going to jot down the notes later, like during the announcements, but there was nothing else to do since her moment of peace just went down the drain, "you already ruined that moment for me. Plus, my neck is beginning to hurt."

"So I didn't ruin sleep from you, I actually saved you from severe neck pain."

The redhead shook her head as she tried not to laugh, but it was much easier said than done when she saw the look on John's face after she completed her statement. "Well, you're still a pain in my neck so sorta and not really," Lita said before breaking into laughter when she looked up at John.

"That doesn't make sense because I'm not a literal pain in your neck. And you're being awfully mean to someone who saved you from a terrible pain."

Lita rolled her eyes as she stopped laughing over at John before turning her attention back to the board and her notebook. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me."

"You're gonna have to make it up to me and I have the perfect way in mind."

"Whatever," was all Lita said as it came quiet between the two.

Once again, John was bored and since Lita was too busy writing down the notes, he decided to do the same, but there were still time before the morning announcements would begin and probably ten minutes left before Mr. Regal would start class. Plus, he knew Lita would let him copy his notes later so he really wasn't in a hurry to get them down.

"So maybe we can work on the project together during break?"

"And how much time would we spent actually working on the project?"

John shrugged. "I don't know, five minutes."

"That's what I thought," Lita said as she finished writing the last few words on the board before focusing her full attention to her boyfriend. "Victoria and I are going to New York with Trish for a couple of days. She's going to fashion school in the city so we thought this would be a perfect excuse for a road trip when she checks it out. But you're going to Ocean City with your brothers, right?" She asked to which John nodded. "Okay. Then we can just meet up when we come back and work on the project. And I mean actually work on the project and not your definition of working on it."

John smirked. "My definition is more fun."

"We still don't know what we're doing it on," she continued after the short interruption. "We're slacking and have so much crap to do because all these teachers think we don't have any other classes except for theirs."

"When are you leaving?"

"Early Saturday morning then I think we're leaving either Wednesday evening or Thursday morning."

"Yea, we're only going for a couple days too." He paused for a brief moment before continuing. "So where are you going?" He continued after noticing the confused look on Lita's face. "For school. Did you make a decision yet?"

Lita shook a decision "Nope. Still either Stanford or College Park. Both have what I want."

"So California or staying in state, huh?" Lita nodded. "You're gonna follow little brother?"

The redhead scrunched her brows in confusion. How did the brunette know where her brother was going for school? "Not following him, that's always been my top choice, but I'm not sure I want to go that far. But that's not the point. How and why do you know where Randy's going?"

"He's the best player this school has seen in a long time, everyone knows where he's going," John answered before saying something that surprised her even more. "Plus, he asked me to help him stay in shape-"

"Wait. What? Really?"

John nodded. "Yea. Works out for me too because I also need to stay in shape."

"So you're really going to follow in your father's footsteps and do the whole firefighter thing?" Lita asked when she remembered a conversation they had a while ago. John simply nodded in reply. "But I thought firemen were supposed to be hot."

John smiled smugly. "Please babe, look at me."

"You're so full of yourself."

"With reason." Lita didn't say anything in response, simply rolling her eyes instead as she looked back in front of the classroom.

John took his phone out of his pocket when he felt it vibrate. He saw Chris just sent him a text message asking him for his hundred dollar bill back that he gave to him a couple of days at the party. The blonde was so drunk that he didn't remember much that happened at the party, like him spilling the beans to Stacy, but he did remember giving John the money when the other teen didn't even want it. The brunette didn't have the blonde's money with him at the moment, but he was planning on giving it back to Chris because he definitely didn't want it. He looked over at Lita who was now just doodling in her notebook as they waited for the announcements to be over with. He couldn't help but feel guilty about the whole bet. He kept telling him it wasn't a big deal because he didn't even like Lita when he first agreed to the bet. Or at least that's what he tried to convince himself was the truth. The closer the two got and the more their relationship progressed, the more guilty he felt.

"Hey Red," John said which earned him the other teens attention. "Um, I need to talk to you about something."

"Right now?"

John shook his head. "After school."

Lita didn't say anything for a moment when she noticed how serious John looked. That was a big change from how he was just a couple of minutes ago so it was obvious to her whatever he wanted to talk about was serious. "Is everything okay?"

"Yea."

"Okay. I have practice, but we can talk before then." John simply nodded in response. He felt like it was finally time to come clean and he just hoped he wouldn't back out again. Unfortunately for him, he was soon about to find out it wasn't his thing to come clean about anymore.

* * *

"Is it just me or did the day just drag on?" Lita asked John as she opened her locker to put some books away at the end of the day. "It was like it was never going to end. I'm glad we don't have a game today and it's just practice even though practice is no walk in the park."

"And you're only on the team because you get to hit people with the stick?"

Lita laughed as she put her books away on her locker so John and her could talk about whatever it was he needed to talk about before she headed to the bathroom to change for practice. The girls locker room was temporary not in use due to the girls who decided to smoke in a couple of periods ago. "You know me so well. That's part of it. I couldn't take the ball and throw it at someone's head when they intentionally smacked me in the face with it," she said referring to something that happened during a volleyball game earlier in the school year. "I mean, I won't hit anyone unless they try me. I can be nice. I'm only a bitch when provoked."

"Really?" John questioned in disbelief. "Only when provoked?"

Lita rolled her eyes, closing her locker when she was done putting her stuff away. "Okay, maybe not only then, but mainly then."

John decided to stay quiet and not remind Lita of their past because he didn't think it would be wise to call her a bitch even if it was in a joking manner moments before he was about to reveal the bet to her. It wouldn't have smart to piss her off before he told her something that would surely set her over the edge. "So um, can we go talk outside? Like on the football field or somewhere we can be alone?" The redhead nodded as the two began walking towards the exit of the school.

The couple didn't notice Stacy who was watching them not too far away from where they were just a moment ago. Even though Chris didn't remember anything he told her at the party regarding the bet didn't mean she forgot. Stacy remembered every litle detail Chris spilled to her and she was just waiting for the perfect moment to inform Lita about it. The blonde wanted to make sure there was an audience for when she crushed the redhead's little heart and this was the perfect time because there were many students in the hallways because it was the end of the school day.

"It's time to have some fun ladies," the blonde teen said to Torrie and Candice as the trio followed the duo who didn't make it to far.

"John!" Stacy called out when they got closer to John and Lita. "Hey, wait up."

Both John and Lita groaned when they heard that annoying voice they knew belonged to Stacy. "I'm going to kill her," the redhead said. "Just ignore her."

"Good idea, but you know she won't leave us alone, so let's just humor her for a moment then we can go."

"Fine," Lita reluctantly agreed before the two stopped in place and turned around to face the other teen. "What do you want?" Was the first thing Lita said when she saw the three teens standing in front of her.

Stacy smiled as she ignored Lita and focused her sole attention on John. "So John, I was wondering with the break coming up if you would like to do something with me. We could hang out or whatever else you would like to do. I'm up for anything as long as we're together."

"Okay barbie, how many times does John have to reject you in order for you to get it through your tiny little brain that he doesn't want anything to do with you. He already has a girlfriend so why would he want a slut like you?"

"I don't know," Stacy began to say, "I was under the impression that he was done with you now that he got his money," she looked over at a startled John before continuing. "You know the money which is the only reason he ever wanted to be even friends with you in the first place."

Lita's brows furrowed in confusion. "What are you talking about?" As she looked over at a very surprised John. "What is she talking about?"

"Let's go outside, I don't-"

"No," Stacy interrupted John which earned her Lita's attention. "Let me tell her please. It's going to be so much fun for me. I have been waiting for something like this to fall into my lap."

"Come on Red," John said as he grabbed Lita by the arm and tried to pull her away because this was not how he wanted her to find out. This is what he was dreading the most, her finding out before he even had a chance. And how was it that Stacy even knew about it? Unfortunately for John, his girlfriend didn't budge because he wanted to know what Stacy was talking about. The little scene also attracted a small audience.

The blonde focused her sole attention on the redhead with a smile plastered on her face before continuing. "It's hilarious how you were calling me pathetic for not taking the hint that John doesn't like me, but you, you're just sad."

"Come on-" John began to say as he grabbed Lita's arm again.

"No," the redhead replied as she yanked her arm out of the brunette's hold. "What the hell are you talking about? Get to the damn point."

"As you wish. The only reason you and John are together in the first place is because-"

"Shut up," John interjected before Stacy could get any further. "You don't know what you're talking about," he said before looking back at a very confused Lita who was intently listening to every word the blonde was saying.

"There was three hundred dollars in it for him," Stacy continued after the short interruption. "One hundred for being your friend, another for dating you, and another for sleeping with you. Knowing you, he got the full three hundred. And you call me the whore."

Lita shook her head. "No. You're lying. He wouldn't do that."

Stacy laughed. "Really? If I'm lying then why would he try and get you away from here before I could say tell you everything? Look at him," she said gesturing to the teen besides Lita. "He looks like a little kid who got caught with his hand stuck inside the cookie jar. How adorable." She walked away a little, but made sure she was nearby so she could see the scene that was about to disrupt in front of her.

Lita turned a little to look at her boyfriend who did look like he got caught doing something he shouldn't have been doing. "She's lying, right? Tell me she's lying."

"Look, I-" John began to say only to be interrupted by the other teen who felt her heart sink down to the ground, not wanting to believe what was happening.

"So she's not lying? Are you serious? You... I can believe you would do something like that to me."

John placed a hand on Lita's "Red-"

"No," Lita said, removing John's hand away from her arm and moving away from him in an effort to create space between them. "Don't touch me. Don't even come near me. Just stay away."

"Can we please just talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about!" Lita yelled which attracted the two a bigger audience. She tried so hard to keep herself composed, but it was getting difficult. She just couldn't believe John would do something like this to her. Sure they could hardly stand one another before, but it was different now. Her feelings ran very deep for him and she thought he felt the same, but know she knew she was only being played. "You used me! You played with my emotions for some money and to just get in my pants! Like I'm some kind of whore!"

"No," John shook his head. "It only started off that way, but-" John started to say, but unfortunately for him, Lita didn't want to hear anymore of what he had to say.

"Shut up!" Lita exclaimed. "If this relationship only start off for the money and you saw your ways and you wanted to change that, then you should have told me. But you know what? I don't care anymore I can't... Why would you... I thought... I'm an idiot."

"Red-"

"Don't call me that!" Lita said, her voice rising once again. "Don't call me anything! Don't talk to me! I don't want to talk to you or see you ever again!" She said even though she knew it would be difficult since they had a couple classes together and they were stuck being lab partners for another few weeks.

"If you would please let me explain. I'm sorry, but-"

Lita shook her head. "Save it for someone who cares," she said as she began to walk away. John tried to follow after her, but luckily for the redhead, her brother was near and heard everything that just went down. Randy stopped in front of John which made it easier for Lita to walk off with Trish who was also present to hear bits and pieces of what just happened.

The former teammates didn't say anything as the simply stared at one other. Randy looked like he wanted to kill John while the other teen just wanted to go after his girlfriend, or maybe ex-girlfriend and explain everything to her, but he had a feeling her brother wasn't about to let him anywhere near her. John tried to walk past Randy only for the taller of the two to block his way and push him back.

John took a deep breath before looking up at Randy. "I need to talk to her so if you would just get out of my way."

Randy shook his head with a glare present on his face, his fists clenching at his side. If looks could kill, John would be sent to an early death. "You can just stay the hell away from her."

"You don't know anything," John said as he tried walking past Randy once again. Only this time, Randy pushed John away before him before punching him as hard as he could in the jaw which knocked the other teen down. Next thing John knew, he was lying on the floor with Randy's fists pounding away at him. He was surprised so it took time for him to get some defense in. But before he could do anything, he noticed someone pulled Randy off of him while someone else tired to help him up and stop him from retaliating.

"Let go of me!" Randy shouted, struggling to get out of the strong hold of Coach Michaels and another teacher while John was doing the same thing. John knew he was in the wrong with what he did to Lita, but that was none of Randy's business as far as he was concerned. "I'm going to kill that little shithead!" The brunette shouted across the hall as he was being escorted away by some teachers who were telling the other students there was nothing to see and they better get going unless they wanted to miss their buses.

"You don't know anything!" John shouted as he was being pulled in a different direction. He couldn't believe what just happened. Just as he was ready to come clean to Lita, someone else beat him to it. And not just anyone, Stacy who Lita had a strong dislike for.

"And that ladies, is how it's done," Stacy smiled satisfied after witnessing everything that just occurred. She couldn't wait for school tomorrow, she had more planned up her sleeves for Lita.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Special thanks to Cena's baby doll, Bajor10, therealchamps, my time is now, and Wolfgirl2013. Hope you liked the chapter. :)**


	21. Chapter 21

Trish and Lita had been in the latter's bedroom for a few minutes and the former was still in the dark about what was going on with her friend. Lita didn't say anything to Trish when the two happened to run into one another other than the fact that she needed to leave so the blonde left with the redhead and drove her home. Trish didn't hear much of what was going on in the hallway, but it was clear to her that Lita and John had just gotten into a fight with how the redhead was yelling at the brunette.

Trish initially decided she was going to wait until Lita was ready to tell her what happened almost half an hour ago at school, but now her friend was crying and that worried her. In all the years Trish knew Lita, the younger of the two hadn't seen the older teen cry much. She tried to stay strong no matter what the issue especially in front of others. The blonde knew there wasn't much that made the redhead cry so she knew whatever happened with John was serious.

"Li," Trish began to say as she pulled her friend closer to her and into a hug. "What happened?" She didn't receive an answer as the other teen continued to cry. "Come on, please talk to me and tell me what happened. You're really worrying me. Please just talk to me."

Lita didn't say anything in response as she tried to cease the crying. She really hated herself for crying over someone who definitely proved to be a jackass like she originally thought. She really hated herself for not being able to control how she still felt about him even after what was just revealed to her. It was just too much to take out of nowhere.

The redhead pulled herself away from Trish and took a deep breath as she wiped away at her face. "He... he... it was all a joke to him," came Lita's queit voice. "It was all just a stupid bet. It was just a game to him."

"What are you talking about?" Trish asked still pretty confused by everything. "What do you mean it was a bet?"

"Exactly what I just said Trish!" A frustrated redhead exclaimed. "This relationship of whatever the hell this was, was just one big game to him! It was just about money! One hundred dollars for being my friend, another for dating me, and then another one hundred for sleeping with me! That's it! That's all there is to know! That's all it was! There's nothing else!"

Trish shook her head in disbelief. "No. He wouldn't do that-"

"Yea, well, that's what I thought but I guess we're both wrong!"

"But-"

"That stupid bimbo told me and a bunch of others who were watching the show!"

Trish didn't say anything for a while as she tried to think about who this bimbo Lita was talking about could be. There was only one name that came to her mind and she was pretty sure she was correct with her guess. Plus, she did remember seeing Stacy near the chaos. "Okay, but she could be making it all up," she began to say after a while. It just didn't make any sense to her that John would actually do something like that to Lita or anyone else for that matter. "It could be just one big lie. It could just be a part of whatever plan she has to get to John. Did-"

"That asshole looked pretty darn guilty and didn't deny it," Lita answered, her voice once again getting pretty quiet as she looked away trying so hard not to cry again. This was upsetting her as it easy pissing her off. "Why would he... I can't... but... I just..." she trailed off as she shook her head, not being able to form a coherent sentence.

This whole situation just baffled the redheaded teen. Lita had many questions she wanted the answers to like what John meant when he said their relationship only started off for the bet. When did John actually start liking her for her and see her more than a dollar sign? She wanted answers and more details of what the bet entailed, but she didn't at the same time because she really didn't care. Or at least that's what she told herself.

"I really liked him," Lita began to say after a while when she turned her attention back Trish when she felt she was able to control her emotions for the time being. "Like a lot. I mean a lot. A lot a lot. You don't understand. God. It was so pathetic. I'm pathetic. I feel so stupid. It was all fake on his behalf and I just fell for it. I fell for him and his stupid stupid games. He must have known about middle school and how easy this was going to be," she said referring to the crush she had on John a few years ago. "He was just there whenever I needed someone like dealing with the creep, dropping me off home when I hurt my ankle, or just trying to make me feel better after my stupid fight with Edge about the other bimbo. I guess I had every right to be angry about that one, huh?" She paused for a moment as she looked away with Trish patiently waiting for her to continue.

The redhead let out a long sigh before turning her attention back to the blonde. "I know we were together for like only three months, but it didn't feel like it. I was with Matt for like a year and I never felt about him the way I feel about John. I mean, it just felt natural like...Like, I don't even understand. I can't explain it. I don't know, but it just... it did. Ugh!" she groaned as she flopped down on the bed. "I'm such an idiot! I hate myself for saying that!"

It became quiet once again when Lita decided she really didn't want to talk about this anymore and just wanted to forget the events of the last hour like nothing even happened, but she knew that wasn't meant to be. Trish didn't say anything as she laid down besides her friend. She wanted to suggest Lita to talk to John and clear things up because she felt like there was more to the story for some reason, but she knew better than to say that right now. It wasn't to say what John did didn't anger her because it did and it made her want to beat the shit out of him for her friend who began crying all over again, but she just had an inkling there was much more than was revealed to the redhead.

Meanwhile, John just pulled up outside the Orton's house. He left school once he was done being lectured by the Vice Principal about fighting on school property and fighting in general. John pointed out the fact that he wasn't the one who was fighting and that it was all Randy who caught him off guard. If he knew Randy was going to attack him, then it definitely would have turned into a fight, but that, that was not a fight. He was lucky enough not to be suspended even though he wasn't able to avoid two weeks of detention. For some reason, Randy also recieved two weeks of detention as well even though he was the one who did all the punching. Maybe the faculty wasn't surprised anymore when the two got into it and knew suspension was just a waste at this point. Whatever the case, John really didn't care about the punishment. Dealing with his parents would be another story, but for now, he was more so concerned about telling Lita the whole truth about the bet.

John rang the doorbell after he made his way to the front of the house. He hoped Randy was still at school or somewhere else because he really didn't want to deal with the other teen right now, he just needed to explain this whole mess to Lita. He just wished she would actually listen to him before she began yelling at him.

"John," Karen began to say when she opened the door, bringing the teen out of his thoughts. He looked up to face the woman who stopped what she was about to say and changed her dialogue. "Are you okay? What happened?" She asked after she saw the visible bruises on John's face. Randy got him good with the couple of punches he was able to throw in before getting separated.

"Nothing," John lied. It seemed as if no one from the school called yet to tell his or Randy's parents about the incident that took place after school. "It's nothing. I just... I'm fine. Can I... I need to talk to Lita. Is she here?" He asked before Karen had a chance to say anything else regarding the marks on his face.

"I don't think Lita is up for any visitors at the moment." Karen saw how disturbed her daughter looked when she arrived home with her friend. A very concerned Karen followed the duo as they went straight up the stairs to Lita's room. She tried asking what was wrong, but Lita stayed quiet and Trish simply shook her head saying she didn't know. The woman left the two teens knowing she wasn't going to get any answers out of her daughter who had a great supportive friend in Trish. She felt that the redhead would actually tell the blonde what was going on and if that didn't happen, then there was a slim chance she was going to tell her mother anything. Plus, Karen knew Lita would come to her later if needed, but that didn't make her worry less.

That made John feel even worse than he was initially feeling about the whole ordeal. He saw himself how angry and upset Lita so her mom's words didn't surprise him, just made him feel horrible. "Please. I just... I..." he trailed off as he let out a sigh. "I really need to talk to her. I need to... I need to... it's important. I just need to talk to her right now."

The woman didn't say anything right away as she observed the teens face. John looked very troubled himself and that just confirmed to her something happened between him and Lita. But the bruises on his jaw and near his eye still didn't make sense to her. "What happened?" Karen asked after a while.

John shook his head. "I did dumb that I seriously regret and I just need to talk to her. She doesn't know everything. She needs to know I'm sorry. I need to talk to her."

"I don't think it's a good idea-" Karen began to say only to be cut off by John.

"Please," John began pleading. "I just need to apologize before it's too late. You can kick me out- and I mean that literally if you want- after I'm done, but I... I need to do this now." Karen didn't say anything as she looked to be thinking about it. "I'm basically begging you. I probably look pathetic, but I don't care. I just want to fix an earlier mistake."

Karen let out a sigh as she nodded and moved away from the entrance to let him enter. "Okay. If she wants you out, then you're out and you will not come back here wanting to speak to her again nor will you go bother her elsewhere. Got it?" The simply nodded in response as he followed the woman into the house and up the stairs.

The younger of the two in the room looked over at the older teen when she heard a knock on the door. Lita didn't seem interested in the slightest bit so Trish got up to open the door thinking it was just Karen checking up on her daughter. She was surprised to see that Karen wasn't alone and had John with her even though she knew it was only a matter of time until he showed up which was a huge part of why she was still with Lita.

"Why are you here?" The blonde asked the brunette when she was able to get over the fact that he was standing there. John stayed silent as he peered in Lita's room to see the redhead lying on the bed. "Eyes here," Trish said when she noticed where his gaze was which earned her his attention.

Neither of the trio seemed to notice how Lita tensed up when she realized who it was Trish was talking to. She sat up on the bed and looked right at where John was who was too busy talking to Trish to look her way. Why was he here? Wait, why did it look like he was involved in a physical altercation? There was only one reason that came to Lita's mind.

"You need to leave," Trish continued. "You shouldn't be here right now."

"I need to talk to her."

Trish shrugged. "I don't care."

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Everyone's attention turned to Randy who was standing right behind them as Christy quietly went to her room and closed the door. The drive home from school with Randy was a very frightening one for her because he was so pissed off. He was yelling and cussing the whole way home. His anger only escalated when he saw John's car parked outside of the car. This was the most angry Christy had ever seen her brother and that scared her. Of course she didn't think it was as bad as when Randy saw Carlito trying trying to take advantage of their older sister, but she wasn't there at that time so she wasn't so sure. Of all days for cheer practice to be canceled of cousrse it would be today. "I thought I made it clear to you that you need to stay away from my sister! You want your whole face to be beaten?!"

"Randy, stop it!" Lita shouted when it looked like he was about to do just as he said only for his very confused mother to pull him away. The other four quickly turned their attention to Lita who was focusing her attention on her brother, trying so hard not to look over at John.

"He-"

"I don't care!" Lita cut Randy off. "Just stop, okay? No more, just please no more." She continued after looking over at Karen. "Can you please get Randy out of here."

"Actually, I would like to know what's going on," Karen replied as she created space between the two former teammates.

No one said anything so Karen was about to say more, but that's when Randy spoke up. "John's a little bitch who's lucky I don't kill him right now."

"You don't know anything," John said for what felt like the billionth time that afternoon.

Randy scoffed. "I know enough to want that so beat your ass!"

"Shut up!" Lita shouted before anyone could say another word. "Mom, please just take Randy away for right now. I need to talk to someone right now," she said glancing at John for a moment.

Karen didn't say anything as she took her son away from John. The duo went back downstairs where Randy kind of filled his mom on what was going on. He didn't really go into details of what he knew, just basically the same thing John told her.

"One down, one to go," Lita said as she focused her attention on John. "Get out."

"Red-"

"I told you not to call me that," Lita said, surprising herself with how calm she was able to be for the time being. "I actually told you not to call me anything and not to talk to me at all so why the hell are you here?"

"I'm sorry-"

Lita shook her head. "I don't want to hear it so leave."

John ignored her as he continued like the little interruption didn't even happen."It was a really idiotic thing to go along with the bet, but I stopped it way before-"

"One hundred dollars for sleeping with me," Lita muttered as she remembered Stacy's earlier words. She shook her head. You're lying. One hundred. That's how much Chris gave you at the party. You said-"

"No!" John furiously shook his head. "No. Chris is going to get that back, okay? He was drunk, I didn't even tell him. I only took it from him because he wouldn't leave me alone. I never-"

"Why should I believe you now?!" Lita yelled. "Everything you told me up until now was a lie so why should I believe you now?!"

"No," John shook his head. "I'm telling you the truth. I wanted to tell you before, but-"

"Shut up and just leave!" Lita exclaimed as she got up from where she was sitting on the bed and walked over to where John was standing. "Leave me alone and get out!" She said as she pushed John out of her room and slammed the door shut before breaking down all over again. She was just glad the tears didn't start rolling down while he was still in the room.

"You heard her," Randy said after he made his way back outside of his sister's room. "Get lost. And I promise if I see you anywhere near her again, I will break every bone in your body and you will be wishing I just killed you today," he said before entering Lita's room as John left the house. He knew he screwed up big time, but he just wished she would actually talk to him.

"I don't understand why you wouldn't just let me kill him," Randy said as he sat down next to her sister.

"Because she still cares about him," was all Trish said as she left the room. She headed down the stairs and out the house hoping to catch John. Just her luck, the other teen was just about to get into his car when she hurried her way over to him. "She needs time," the blonde said which earned her the surprised brunette's attention. "I want nothing more than to bash your face and it looks like Randy did a good job with that. But that's not the point. Point is, Lita just needs some time to digest this. You hurt her really bad and I hate you for that, but she can't. You need to tell her whatever it is you came to tell her today, but at a later time. Honestly, it's not going to change anything. She's still going to be pissed because you still took part of something terrible and you have no one to blame but yourself. And I guess whoever made the bet with you and I'm guessing it was Chris." She paused for a brief moment before continuing. "Give her the time and space she needs."

With that said, Trish went back inside the house and John got into his car as he thought about what Trish just said. Maybe telling Lita the truth wouldn't change how she felt now, but he was going to make things right. He was determined to make things right with the redhead he had grown to care about. He knew he was so naive to think she wouldn't be effected. But things were definitley different back when the bet was made and when he thought she wouldn't care. John hated that he hurt Lita and he was determined to fix it.

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**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. :)**


	22. Chapter 22

Lita took a deep breath as she stood a couple hundred feet away from the entrance of the school the next morning along with her bestfriend and siblings. Trish decided to stay the night at her friend's house knowing the redhead needed her even though the other teen wouldn't admit it. Lita didn't really talk much after John left which wasn't surprising to Trish at all, but the younger teen wanted to be there just in case the older one changed her mind.

"I don't want to be here," Lita said after a while as she stared right in front of her trying to ignore the glances she recieved from those who were passing by. She knew why she was popular all of a sudden and that pissed her off.

"There's only a few more weeks left," Trish pointed out which didn't really do anything to help the situation.

Lita rolled her eyes as she glanced at Trish for a moment before looking back to the school in front of them and then back at her friend. "Yea, a few weeks too long. I can hear my bed calling my name from here," she said as she turned around and tried to walk away only for the blonde to grab her by the arm and turn her around.

"What did we talk about?"

Lita yanked her arm out of Trish's hold. "Shut up. My life is not a game so I don't give a damn about some bullshit line about letting those assholes win by not coming here today. I could give a less damn about that, okay? I'm tired and I don't feel like dealing with these idiots today. I'm going to kill someone if they keep staring at me all day."

"Deep breaths and ignore."

"Trish is right," Christy piped up. "Just ignore them. If you did stay at home, then it's like you're admitting to them-" the younger redhead stopped herself when she saw the look the older one was sending her way. "Right, not a game. I'm just gonna go," she said before smiling at the trio and heading inside the school.

"I could always kick someone's ass for you," Randy began to say, a smirk present on his face before continuing. "Like yesterday. I could always give a repeat performance, it's not like I mind."

Lita rolled her eyes before looking over at her brother. "You already did enough."

Randy shook his head. "No. I don't agree. Come on, it would be fun for me. And I'm not-"

"It's none of your business," Lita cut her brother off.

"I beg to differ. You're my sister and I warned that punk that if he ever did anything to hurt you, I would make sure he paid and I'm not done fulfilling that promise."

"I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself."

"Yea, that's evident-"

"Leave," Trish interrupted before Randy could continue with whatever he was about to say.

"Uh-"

"Did I stutter? I said leave. So use your legs and walk on inside the school like a good little boy." Randy didn't say anything in response, simply staring at the other two teens before wisely decided to leave like Trish told him. "And let's try to keep our hands to ourselves today. Okay bye now."

The blonde turned her attention to the redhead when it was just the duo left together. "We should go inside before we waste all our time out here and get caught in the hallways and get detention."

"I wouldn't mind that," the redhead muttered under her breath before continuing out loud. "Whatever," she said before she began heading inside the school along with Trish as she tried to avoid all the eyes on her. News definitely traveled fast in that school. Or maybe this particular news traveled fast because of what was inside.

The redhead did a double take when she spotted one of the many flyers plastered up all over the school. Some of them were already taken down by Randy and Christy who saw the flyers the moment they stepped inside the hallways a couple of minutes ago, but there was no way they were able to get to all of them in a short period of time. There were even some flyers spread on the floors. Lita grabbed one of the flyers off of a locker when she thought the picture of the person on the paper was very familiar to her. Her suspicion was confirmed when she was able to get a better look at the picture in her hands. She became very furious reading the typed up words. It was basically an advertisement for her which was a condensed version of the bet.

"Earn yourself a few bucks," the redhead began to read to herself. "All you have to do is spend ONE NIGHT with LITA. It doesn't matter who you are, she's always WILLING and READY. One night of fun (or maybe not so much). Think of it as an EASY job. She does all the work and you get all the MONEY." She then began reading the words in the bottom of the page. "We are not responsible for any diseases that WILL be transmitted."

"Oh God," Trish said as she looked over the piece of paper in Lita's hands. "Who would do this?" She didn't know why those words left her mouth because she wasn't expecting an answer since she was sure she already knew.

An angry redhead balled up on paper in her fist before throwing it on the ground. "That stupid fucking bitch. I'm going to kill her when I see her."

"Lita-"

The redhead shook her head as she continued to walk towards her locker along with the blonde. "You know what? I don't care. It's not worth my time or energy. She's not worth it. And she wouldn't have had any ammunition if it weren't for that jackass so maybe I should just kill him."

Trish didn't say anything in response as the two walked to their lockers in silence. To say Lita was even more angry than she already was when the duo arrived to their locker area would be an understatement.

"You're about to be two for two," Lita said as she looked at the number 300 spray painted on her locker which earned her a confused look from Trish so she continued. "Your predictions a couple of months ago. Unfortunately you were right about me hooking up with Cena and now I'm going to make sure you were right about the second one two. It's time to kick some ass." She turned around to see that the blonde she was looking for wasn't too far away, laughing and waving at her.

Lita glared at the other teen as she began to walk towards where Stacy, Candice, and Torrie were giving her smug looks. But before she could get anywhere near the trio, Trish grabbed her by the arm. "I'm all in for you to at least punch, but you were right before, it's not worth it."

The redhead didn't say anything as she took her arm out of the blonde girls hold and ignored her friend's advice as she continued to make her way to her previous destination before Trish stopped her.

"What the hell is your problem?" A pissed off Lita asked as she pushed Stacy back when she arrived to where the three were standing.

"My problem?!" Stacy asked, she was barely able to catch her balance and prevent herself from falling on the floor. "You're the one who just pushed me!"

"Oh sweetie, the push is the least of your concerns, you're about to get way more than that! Don't think I forgot about the shit you pulled last year!" It didn't take long for the two to attract some attention to them as a group of onlookers formed around them.

Stacy rolled her eyes. "Come on Lita, I'm not the only one who knows you're a whore so anyone could have sprayed that on your locker. Like anyone could have made that really amazing ad for you. You don't look totally bad in the picture." She smirked before continuing and Lita wanted to do nothing more to than just punch that look off of her face. "I heard you're getting a lot of interested prospects. I guess they're willing to risk their health for one measly night with you."

"The same could be said about you and your victims and that would actually be true."

Stacy didn't seem to be phased as she ignored what Lita just said and continued. "I just feel really sad for you. Like you're so pathetic thinking that John actually liked you. I almost started to believe he liked you more than me even though that's not possible for anyone to do, but he was just having fun and earning some easy money. It's nice to know his taste isn't as horrible as I thought it was."

"Then what makes you think you stand a chance?"

Stacy opened her mouth to respond to the other teen, but was stopped when a teacher was able to get through the crowd when she notice there were a group of people surrounding a specific scene. "Ladies," the woman spoke which earned her the five teens attention including a queit Candice, Torrie, and Trish. "Everything okay here?" Their Spanish teacher, Ms. Garcia, asked as she glanced better the girls, mainly Stacy and Lita.

"Lita randomly came up to me and pushed me for no reason. I almost fell and could have broken something. She's assaulting me and I will press charges if the school doesn't do anything about it," Stacy spoke before Lita could say anything.

Lita rolled her eyes. "First, let's learn the law before you try and take legal action. Second, you are so dramatic. Cut the act. Do you see what's sprayed on my locker? Do you see what's on the lockers and the floors? Of course you do, because you did it!"

Stacy shrugged. "I don't know what that has anything to do with me."

"Again you brainless bitch-"

"Lita, we do not use this type of language at school," Ms. Garcia said only to be ignored."

"-you did it so it has everything to do with you!"

Stacy shook her head. "Those are some pretty strong accusations to make against someone without having any type of proof."

"I'll give you some proof of a broken nose," Lita threatened as she tried to get closer to Stacy only for Trish to pull her back.

"Not worth it Li," Trish said even though she would have loved to see her friend break the other blonde's nose and make her cry. "Not worth it at all."

"Trish is right," Ms. Garcia began to say, brining herself back into the conversation. "Lita, you know better than this, just listen to your friend," the woman did before focusing her attention on Stacy. "As for you, you may not be the one responsible for defacing Lita's locker and the flyers, but be prepared to face the consequences if it is founded that you are indeed responsible for these actions." Stacy simply rolled her eyes because she knew she wouldn't get caught. It wasn't like anyone could prove she spray painted Lita's locker last year even if it was common knowledge. And it wouldn't make a difference to her if she were to get caught because high school was almost over forever so there wasn't much the principal could do to punish her.

"Squash it and get to class before you're late and earn yourself detention." The Spanish teacher glanced between the duo once more. "I know neither of you will cause any problems in my class later today."

Neither of the girls said anything as they sent each other one last glare before heading their separate ways. "That bitch is lucky Ms.-" Lita stopped herself and stopped in place when she saw John standing across the hall. He had a stack of papers in his hands which he collected off of the lockers and off from the floor and deposited them into the trash can. She wanted badly to go over to him and tell him off and ask why he was getting rid of the flyers and tell him it was none of his concern. But, at the same time, she really didn't want to talk to him.

John felt someone's eyes on him so he looked up and saw Lita looking right at him, but she immediately looked away when their eyes locked before walking back to her locker and putting some of her books away. And that was when John finally noticed the number sprayed on Lita's locker. He was surprised and upset to see not only the painting on her locker, but also the sheets of paper all over the school. He felt horrible about it all even though he wasn't the one who was responsible for doing either of the two things. John had a strong feeling that Stacy was the one responsible, but he did inspire her and that's why he felt guilty. He really did like Lita way more than he ever thought he could, but he just had to screw that up. John wanted to talk to Lita and try to straighten things out, but thought it would be best to just give her some time like Trish suggested.

The teen let out sigh before getting back to the task at hand after he watched Lita, along with Trish, walk away presumably to homeroom. He wondered why the janitor didn't begin cleaning up the mess already. Who was going to clean her locker and when? John remembered when it took just about all day for the janitor to get around to clean off the paint from Lita's locker last year. Maybe he would just have to clean it off himself.

"John," the teen heard Coach Michaels call his name a few minutes later. He had made a lot of progress on the area before the teacher noticed the student was still in the hallway even though the final bell rang. "I believe that was the bell we heard a couple of minutes ago. Why are you not in class?"

"Someone needs to do the janitors job if he's not going to," John said as he dumped another handful of the flyers into the trash can. "You think he'll at least give me something to clean the locker with?" He asked gesturing to his ex-girlfriend's locker nearby.

Coach Michaels let out a sigh as he shook his head. "I just had this conversation with Randy and a couple of others, cleaning up this mess is not your job, you need to get to class."

"Well, I don't see anyone else doing anything about this."

"Yea well, I made them go to class which you need to get to now." John made no movement to go to class as he continued to clear the halls of the papers. "The janitor is cleaning up the other parts of the school, he already cleared the third floor, right now which is why you don't see him here, he will get to it and some of us," Coach Michaels said referring to his fellow teachers, "who don't have a first period class are helping him."

"Why wouldn't he start with the first floor? Why didn't he start with her locker?"

"Get to class before you earn yourself additional detention. Is two weeks not enough for you."

John shrugged. "I don't care."

Meanwhile, Lita was in homeroom trying to convince Mr. Regal during the morning announcements to switch her partner because she really didn't want to work with John anymore. She couldn't stand being in the same place with him for the time being so there was no way she wanted to share a lab bench with him and work on the final project together. She didn't want to talk to him at all and being partners entailed a bit of talking.

"We haven't even decided what we're doing for our project," Lita continued after Mr. Regal rejected her initial plea, "so it's not a big deal if I work with someone else. Victoria said she would be my partner if you agreed and I'm sure Dave wouldn't mind working with Cena."

Mr. Regal shook his head. "I am looking forward to their project which they already started on. It looks very promising and I will not split that pair up."

"Fine. There are other pairs that can swap. Christian-"

"No Ms. Orton," Mr. Regal said for what felt like the billionth time in the short conversation. "I am not changing the partners just because you are having a little tiff with you partner. Quite frankly, there is nothing new about you and Mr. Cena having issues. You two were able to work well up to this point and I expect you to finish out the year strong."

"But-"

"Take a seat, class will be starting shortly."

"Come-"

"Take a seat," the teacher said once again. "I would like to start class as soon as the announcements start. We have a full schedule ahead of us today."

Lita simply nodded as she turned around and walked back to her seat knowing she was stuck with John as lab partner for the rest of the school year. At least the end of the school year was approaching. And speaking of her lab partner, why wasn't he in class yet? Nope, she didn't care.

John walked into the class just as Mr. Regal was about to begin it a couple of minutes later. He finally agreed to go to class when he saw the janitor come to the first floor and begin to clean the paint off of Lita's locker. Fortunately for him, Coach Michaels wrote him a pass which saved him from getting an extra day of the two weeks of detention he already had.

John walked over to his seat and noticed Lita was trying her best to avoid any eye contact. He took a seat next to her and it didn't go past him when he saw her pull her books closer to her half of the table and made sure nothing was on his side. She usually didn't care if her stuff went in his area and vice versa, but it was definitely different today.

"Hey," John said after debating with himself for a while whether or not he should say even one word to her. Just as predicted, the redhead ignored the brunette as she tried to pay attention to whatever it was the biology teacher was talking about.

Unfortunately for John, Lita's silence didn't last long. "I wasn't able to get a different partner," she whispered to the other teen as Mr. Regal's back was facing towards them, "so we're stuck." She was looking right in front of her at the chalk board where the teacher wrote some notes on the board. "Just my luck, huh? But I found a way to prevent us from actually having to work on this together at the same time. I'm going to pick the topic and I'll let you know whenever. I'll do some research, pass it your way and you put together the presentation and add whatever you want. I get final say on the final copy of the power point so you will get a draft of the presentation to me a week before the presentation. Got it?"

"Red-"

Lita scowled, taking a chance to glance at John. "I said got it?"

"Fine," was all John said with them continuing class without saying another word to one another. The teen knew it would take a lot of time and effort for him to fix everything with Lita and even then it looked like he only had a slim chance of doing so. But he felt like it was worth it. She was worth it.

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**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. :)**


	23. Chapter 23

The rest of the week went by very slowly for both John and Lita. John was determined to fix this whole mess he got himself into with Lita who was hellbent on ignoring him and not falling for any more tricks she was sure he had up his sleeves. There was no way she felt like she could ever trust him again.

Unfortunately for the redhead, the brunette wasn't the only person she was dealing with, she was also dealing with Stacy and her games. There were different flyers hanging around school well as different words spray painted on Lita's locker every day. Today's flyer was Lita's favorite, the piece of paper was basically asking for the many potential father's of her unborn child to step up so they could solve the mystery. Of course Lita wasn't pregnant, but that didn't stop her brother, sister, and even John from freaking out even though they knew it was just another one of Stacy's attempt to piss off the teen. Lita was getting so close to finally snapping and just punching the blonde in her face, hopefully breaking that fake nose of hers in the process. She really didn't understand how Stacy was getting away with all of this.

"I am so glad we have only one class left before Spring Break can officially begin," Trish began to say after she made her way back to the table and sat down next to Lita, placing the soda she just bought from the vending machine down on the table in front of her. "It's about damn time."

"You're telling me," Lita muttered under her breath as she picked at whatever the cafeteria was trying to pass as lunch before she finally pushed it away from herself.

Trish frowned when she was actually able to hear the words that left her friends mouth. "Well, I'm excited for New York, we're going to have so much fun!" She exclaimed, clapping her heads together.

The redhead rolled her eyes as she looked up at the blonde. "I just can't wait to get away from these assholes." Some guys actually did come up to Lita after the first flyer earlier that week and she was so close to beating up some of them, but she was able to control herself. Luckily for her, the guys remembered who her brother was and how his anger could get out of control so most of them stayed away after the first day.

Everyone at the table simply glanced at one another with Trish breaking the silence. "Only an hour left and then bye bye assholes."

Lita shook her head as she began looking through her phone. "Yesterday's game was postponed to today thanks to the rain so no, not one hour left for me. I'm just glad I get to play today, I need it." Coach Runnels wouldn't allow her to play in Tuesday's game because Lita skipped out on Monday's practice without informing her.

"Oh yes," Edge began to say, "just what the other team needs, playing an angry redhead who takes advantage of the getting to hit below the knees with the stick rule. I almost feel bad for them."

Lita rolled her eyes glancing at her friend before returning her attention back to her phone. "Don't. I heard that bitch from Milford who whacked me in the head with the volleyball is on the team. I'm planning on getting her good. Sweet sweet revenge."

"Nope, not almost. I definitely feel bad for them now."

Lita shrugged. "Well that one has it coming so I don't really care."

"I'll definitely be there to watch the show. It'll be too good to miss."

Trish nodded in agreement. "I'm so there."

"Me too," Stephanie piped up. "I'll bring the popcorn," she said before the subject changed to their plans over Spring Break.

Lita stayed silent during the conversation as she pretended to look busy on her phone because she wasn't in the mood for talking right now. The truth was that she was just aimlessly scrolling through her phone. She stopped when she saw a picture of her and a certain ex-boyfriend of hers on the screen. She wanted badly to delete the pictures and any other types of memory of him off of her phone and anywhere else she may have things saved, but she also didn't want to at the same time.

"You okay?" Jeff, who was sitting on the other side of Lita, asked when he noticed her mood suddenly change.

Lita didn't even hear anyone speaking to her so she stayed silent as she stared at the screen on her phone. She turned off her phone and placed it down on the table in front of her before looking up. Just her luck, the first person she saw when she looked across the cafeteria was the same person whose picture she was recently looking at.

"Oh," Jeff said after he followed Lita's gaze to see what was troubling his friend. Lita immediately looked away when John just happened to look her way when he felt like someone was watching him. "He really is sorry. He keeps-"

"I don't want to hear it," Lita interrupted Jeff as she turned her attention to him. "I really don't give a damn. He shouldn't have agreed with the bet in the first place. He should have told me. You know what? I'm not having this conversation with you."

"I told him not to and he was only looking for trouble." Jeff only realized he said those words out loud and instead of in his mind like he meant to when he saw the shocked look on Lita's face. He opened his mouth to say more, but he was cut off by the redhead once again.

"What do you mean you told him not too?" Lita asked suprised with a hint of anger in her voice which earned them attention of the others at the table. "Did you know about this?"

"Kind of."

Lita shook her head. "Not kind of, it's either a yes or no answer." Jeff simply nodded. "When? When it was made? You did say you told him not to agree with the bet."

"I heard Chris making the bet and John agreeing to it," Jeff admitted.

"And you didn't tell me?" Lita felt very betrayed. Sure she didn't think of Jeff as she did Trish or Edge, but he was still a great friend so she didn't understand how he could keep that piece of information away from her. "You knew the moment the bet was made, yet you didn't tell me anything. I don't... I don't... how could you not tell me?"

"I wanted to, I really did, but I was asked not to," Jeff answered, quickly adding more before Lita could cut him off. "And I would have done the same for you."

"No! You're supposed to be my friend. When you know someone is out to play me like a fiddle, then you tell me."

"Lita, I'm-"

Lita shook her head as she grabbed her phone and her bag before getting up from the table so she could leave. She was so angry one of her friends knew what John was doing and didn't tell her. She just needed to get away from him for now. "Too late. I can't believe you would... whatever." She shook her head once again before leaving.

Trish and Stephanie soon followed after Lita, but not without the blondes saying some last words to her boyfriend. "I can't believe you wouldn't tell her anything. I don't give a damn that he's your cousin and you promised him you wouldn't tell her anything. You are such a coward." With that said, her and Stephanie went after Lita to see if she was okay.

* * *

School had been over with for two hours and Spring Break had officially begun, but John still found himself there. He actually left the school for a while when the day ended before coming back because he wanted to check out the lacrosse game. Or maybe he just wanted to check out one of the players.

Lita still hadn't said anything to John the whole week and he was trying to give her space and time like Trish suggested even though he didn't want to. The redhead was so stuck on ignoring the brunette to the best of her ability that she didn't talk to him even for school. Lita sent John an email when she finally decided what they should do for their final biology project. He tried texting her a response because he hardly checked his email, but he didn't get a reply until he decided to just email her as well. John thought it was possible that Lita blocked his number, but she actually kept his number in her phone just so she would know when not to pick up.

John ignored the glare on Trish's face when he finally made it to the area of the lacrosse field where the game was taking place. She clearly wasn't happy to see him there, but unfortunately for her, he really didn't care. He looked at the field and it wasn't long until he spotted an impatient redhead on the the sidelines. Unknown to John, Lita was definitely taking all her anger of the past few days out on the field which resulted in her to get a yellow card due to her play which earned her three minutes on the sideline instead of on the field.

"What are you doing here?" Trish asked after she got up from where she sitting on one of the benches and walked to where John was standing. "I thought I told you to give her some space."

John shrugged as he watched Lita who was finally permitted to get back into the game. "I'm just here to watch a game."

Trish let out a sigh as she followed John's gaze and saw who his focus was fixated on which definitely wasn't surprising to her at all. "Except you're only watching one player."

John didn't say anything in response as he continued to watch the action on the field. Both teens cringed when they saw Lita whack another player hard in the knees with the lacrosse stick which went unseen by a referee who definitley would have ejected her had she seen the play.

"I'm pretty sure she's pretending those other girls are either you or Stacy. And let's just throw Jeff in there as well."

"He didn't do anything."

"That's the point." John stayed silent so Trish continued as she focused her attention on the other teen who was still very interested in what Lita was doing. "You're not doing yourself any favors by stalking her."

John rolled his eyes as he glanced at Trish before looking back at the game. "I'm not stalking anyone. I just want to see a good game."

"You need to leave."

"You don't control me so maybe you should just get away from me if you don't like me being here."

"John-"

"Shut up Trish."

"Excuse me?"

"Shut up. You don't know anything so just shut up."

"Then tell me."

John shook his head, focusing his attention on Trish for a moment. "It's none of your business. There's one person I need to talk to and it's sure as hell not you."He looked back over at the field and in that exact moment, Lita finally noticed that he was there.

The redhead looked very upset at first, but that was quickly replaced with anger. Since Lita was distracted for the time being, someone knocked her down as they ran past her. Lita looked up to see the girl who knocked her down was now standing there laughing at her. It was the same girl who was on volleyball team that hit her in the head with the ball earlier that school year.

"Oh this can't be good," Trish said as she watched the scene on the field unfold along with John. Lita got up from the ground without picking up her lacrosse stick and Trish knew that meant her friend was about to go after the other lacrosse player. She knew this was the same girl, who she learned name was Mickie, Lita was speaking about at lunch earlier that day.

"What the hell is your problem!" Lita asked when she was standing directly in front of the brunette teen. That earned the duo attention of every player, the coaches, and the spectators.

"It's not my fault that you suck!"

"Have you taken a gander at the score?!" Lita asked referring to the fact that Towson was beating Milford 5-0 so far and there was still plenty of time to score more points.

The brunette ignored the redhead as she continued after the little interruption. "Maybe you should pay more attention to what's happening on the field and not your boyfriend!" Mickie smirked before continuing. "Or maybe I should call him the guy who only went out you for money."

Lita didn't say anything for a while because she was surprised that Mickie even knew about the whole bet. It was apparent Mickie knew someone who went to Towson who filled her in on the details.

"Any problems ladies?" Coach Runnels and the coach of the other team asked the two.

Mickie shook her head. "Not a problem. Game on." She said before walking away.

"Everything okay?" Coach Runnels asked Lita who nodded.

"But not for Milford. They're about to get shutout. We're gonna end this ten zip."

Play began to pick up a couple of minutes later and true to Lita's word, she was working on making sure they shutout the other team and double the points they currently had so they could embarass them. Lita was close to making another score when Mickie came out of nowhere and hit her in the stomach with the stick. Unfortunately for the redhead, the brunette wasn't finished and she was pushed onto the ground before she felt someone repeatedly hit her. Lita soon gathered herself together was able to get only one punch in before the two were separated from one another.

"They're out of here!" The referee shouted as he presented the struggling pair with a red card meaning not only were they ejected for the rest of the game today, but they wouldn't be able to play in the next game as well.

"Bullshit!" Lita complained. "She hit me first! I was only defending myself."

"Cool it," Coach Runnels said as she pulled the teen away to the sideline.

"She can't do that! That bitch whacked me in the stomach with the stick! Did she just expect me to lie there and get hit and not do anything about it?"

"I know," the coach nodded, "but you can't retaliate."

"Like hell I can't!"

"Cool it," Coach Runnels repeated. "Just sit on the bench with the others," she said referring to the other players who were on the team as substitutes. "Don't leave yet, we need to talk after the game."

Lita had to bite her lip from expressing what she was currently thinking because that probably would have gotten her suspended or earned her some other similar consequence. She nodded as she walked towards the bench and sat down next to one of the players who asked if she was okay. The redhead ignored her teammate as she tried to pay attention to the game so she could do her best not to turn around to look where she was sure John was still standing, but she failed. She looked over and saw John was walking away. She didn't know why he came there in the first place.

* * *

Lita was walking towards her car later that evening after her little meeting with Coach Runnels which basically entailed the coach telling her player that she was dissapointed in her behavior. The redhead didn't pay much attention to what the blonde woman had to say because she really didn't care. She was pissed off that she was being punished for defending herself when she barely got a measly punch in. She would have gotten the other teen good if she wasn't ambushed.

"Oh hell," Lita said to herself when she noticed someone was waiting for her at her car. She didn't feel like talking to anyone and this person was near the top of her list. "Just what I need. What do you want?"

* * *

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	24. Chapter 24

John was on his way back home after running a couple of errands for his parents. He was basically acting as their errand boy and doing whatever else they needed done around the house during Spring Break as part of his punishment for the fight they learned he was involved in with Randy over a week ago at school. John was surprised and glad that his parents still let him go on the three day trip to Ocean City with his brothers who he had a pretty good time with. He was pretty sure his parents only let him go because he was going to be with his brothers and the trio barely got to spend some time together ever since the other two moved out.

John's brothers brought up the topic of his ex-girlfriend with one of them dropping it when they realized that was a sore suject, but his oldest brother, Tyler, was a little too nosy and he wanted to know what happened. John eventually gave in and told Tyler what happened with Lita which subsequently told him about the little fight with her brother A. After laughing and calling John stupid various times and asking John if he really cared about Lita now, the older one gave him some advice. Just like Trish, Tyler told John to give the redhead some space, but he also said not to give her too much space because he wouldn't accidentally want to give her the impression that he didn't care about her and he didn't regret what he did. John knew he had to show Lita his feelings for her were real and the bet was a mistake, but he really didn't know how.

The teen sighed when he stopped at a stop sign and had to wait for the few kids to cross the street. He looked over to his right while he waited and that's when he realized he was just about to pass the street Lita lived on. If he took a right instead of going straight, then he would be a few houses away from the redhead's house.

John thought about whether he wanted to keep going straight or take a right for a while. He knew Lita went to New York with Trish and Victoria during break, but he didn't know if she was back yet or not. He also knew that she wouldn't want to talk to him, let alone see him, but John just wanted to fix this mess he created sooner rather than later. He really did think the longer he waited, the more difficult it would be to gain her trust and forgiveness.

The teen looked through his rear view mirror when he heard someone's car horn. He saw the driver in the car gesture for him to move because there was no reason for him to continue to stop at the sign. John took a right when he decided he could always use their final project for biology as an excuse for him showing up to Lita's house. Sure he didn't have his books or anything else useful with him, but he could always come up with an excuse for that. He probably also needed to let his mom know that he was working on his project with his partner so she wouldn't think he was breaking the rules by having any fun.

It didn't take long for John to park his car in front of Lita's house. He took the keys out of the ignition and unbuckled the seat belt before opening the door and getting out of the car. As John walked to the front door, he couldn't help but think how he really didn't want Randy to be the one to answer the door because he really didn't want to deal with the other teen at the moment. He also would have liked it if her dad wasn't at home either. John was sure Lita's dad didn't know everything that happened with the two, but he was sure he knew enough to want to use the gun John was reminded over and over again that he carried. He had to admit that Lita's dad scared him. It would just be better if Lita opened the door herself, but he didn't see her car anywhere nearby. Maybe Randy took the car somewhere and she was at home which could be a possibility because the twins did share the car.

John knocked on the door when he arrived to the porch. He didn't have to wait long until a redheaded teen opened the door. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't the redhead he was hoping it would be.

"Hi Christy," John said after a while.

"Hey," the younger teen smiled at him.

"Um, is Lita here?"

Christy shook her head. "No."

John waited for Christy to elaborate, but when she didn't, he continued. "Where is she?"

The redhead shrugged. "I don't know."

"Is she back from New York?"

"Yup. She came back last night and left again before I even saw her this morning and she's still out."

"You don't have to lie to me. Just-"

"I'm not lying," Christy cut him off. "I really would have told you if I knew. I mean, yes I was mad at you when I found out what you did, but I like you and I don't think you meant to take this as far as it went. I really do believe you're sorry for what happened."

John sighed. "Only if she did."

"She'll come around. I know she will. She's just feels really betrayed right now. Just give it some time."

John had to bite his lip from saying he really didn't want to give it some time and he was sick and tired of everyone saying that to him. "So you really don't know where she's at?" Christy shook her head. "Or when she'll be back?"

Christy shook her head once again. "No. But I'll tell her you were looking for her if you want."

John shook his head. "No. I'll just tell her myself," he said when he had a feeling he knew where Lita could be. "Bye."

* * *

Lita sighed as she observed the sight in front of her. She was currently at one of her favorite places in the city. She loved going to Fed Hill every now and then just to clear her mind when she felt like she was going to lose her mind. Sometimes she loved to run there, but today, she just sat on the bench as she observed the scene around her. The scene of the harbor was very nice and soothing from the top of the hill.

She was too tired for a run because she, along with Trish and Victoria, arrived home from New York late last night and she barely got any sleep. Lita's parents almost prevented her from going because they learned about the little fight she was involved in during the game. But after Trish convinced Karen and Lita broke down in front of her mother over the events of the last few days, her mother easily gave in thinking this was something her daughter needed. The redhead had a pretty decent time with her friends and now the trio was planning on doing a little road trip cross country after graduation before they went their separate ways to college. Trish and Lita had previously planned on doing something like that, just the two of them, but now they were planning on inviting Victoria and Stephanie as well who wasn't able to make the trip this time due to a family vacation. They knew they would have a good time just the two of them, but it would most likely be even more fun if the other two tagged along as well.

Unfortunately for Lita, she wasn't able to escape the bitch that was Stacy Keibler during Spring break even though they didn't see one another. If there was one thing that ruined her trip with her friends, then it was the random phone calls she kept getting. The blonde teen somehow got a hold of the redhead's phone number and posted a similar advertisement to the one's she posted all around school onto Craigslist. Lita was really confused when people, mainly guys, kept calling her over and over again, asking if they could get a refund after a few seconds on the call because it wasn't worth it at all and they had better. Then one guy said something really dirty to her and then she realized what was going on. She was able to find the ad online when she searched her phone number on Google when she had suspicions soqmething was going on. She immediately knew Stacy was the one behind it all. She wasn't able to get her phone number changed until earlier that day so the calls kept coming that she just had to turn her phone of all together. She received hundreds of messages including voice mails and texts due to the posting om Craigslist. She definitely owed Stacy a little present after this.

"Fancy seeing you here," Lita looked over when she heard someone speak to her. That someone also took a seat right next to her on the bench.

Lita rolled her eyes as she turned her attention back in front of her. "What do you want?"

"I thought we agreed that we would be friends now," the other teen said in reference to their conversation a few days ago after the lacrosse game. Even though they had their differences in the recent past, the two had a long conversation where he apologized for everything he said about her after their relationship detoriated close to two years ago. The conversation ended with them agreeing to move past it all because it was kind of silly and juvenile. They had even exchanged a few texts in the last couple of days so he thought things were good between them.

The redheaded teen scoffed before looking over at the other teen. "I paid for the last guy who said that to me. Actually, he's the one who got paid for being my friend among other things, but you know what I meant."

"Lita-"

"Okay fine. But friends or not, why are you here Matt? How did you even know I was here?"

"I knew you would be back from your trip and I was going to head back to school today so I just wanted to say bye. I went to your house and your mom told me you were here."

"Of course she did," Lita muttered under her breath as she looked back down at the city in front of them. "Sorry for acting like a bitch, but I just wanted to be alone."

"If you want me to leave-" Matt began to say only to be interrupted by his ex-girlfriend.

Lita shook her head as she glanced at her ex-boyfriend for a moment. "No, it's fine. You can stay, I could always use a friend's company right now if you're here," she said before it became quiet between the two for a while.

"Are you okay?" Matt asked after a couple moments of silence. He was aware about everything that happened between her and John because Jeff told him a couple of hours before he decided to visit her after the lacrosse game. "Are you still letting the whole thing with John bug you? We were together for like a year and it was easy for you to get over me. If I'm not mistaken, you actually moved on while we were together." That earned him a glare from the other teen. "My point is that you seem to be taking this much more hard than when we broke up and you two were dating like what, three months versus our year?"

Lita didn't say anything as she decided to look away from Matt. This had so much potential to turn awkward real quick. Sure Lita and John's relationship didn't last anywhere near as long as her and Matt's relationship, but like she told Trish when this whole mess unraveled, she fell for John much harder than she ever fell for Matt. She never felt the same way she did for John for Matt or any other guy. It surprised Lita how much she actually liked him, but unfortunately for her, it was all fake on John's behalf. Or so she thought. There was nothing John could say or do to make her change her mind about that.

"Oh," Matt said when her silence made it a little clear to him even though it was confusing to him because it was less than a year ago that his cousin and ex-girlfriend couldn't stand being around one another even for five minutes. He remembered how the duo got into petty little arguments everytime they crossed paths. Maybe it was just a facade for those around them. Like him. "So were you cheating on me with John?"

Lita scowled. "We said we weren't going to bring that up again."

"So is that a yes? Because I don't understand-"

"No," Lita said as calmly as possible. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to tell Matt that she began that rumor with the help of her brother, but she honestly didn't care if he kept thinking she did cheat on him. It was better if he thought that so he would never want to get back together with her. She remembered Jeff telling her a few months ago that his brother still had feelings for her and she knew she didn't want to go back to that again. "Look, I don't want to talk about Cena, especially not with you, so just drop it."

"Fine. I should get going anyways," Matt said as he stood up from where he was sitting next to her on the bench.

"Okay, bye then."

Matt shook his head at how she was acting towards him. He was really second guessing his decision of coming here. She definitely wasn't in the mood to be around people at the moment. "Bye." With that said, he walked away and left.

Neither of the two noticed the pair of eyes observing their interaction the last couple of minutes. John couldn't help but feel a tiny feeling of jealousy as he watched his cousin and his ex-girlfriend talk to one another. He couldn't hear anything they were talking about and since he didn't have a very good view of their faces, he couldn't read their faces or their body language either so he couldn't tell the type of conversation they were having. He was actually really glad when he saw Matt leave a couple of minutes later.

Once Matt was gone, John walked over to where Lita was sitting at the bench. He paused for a moment a couple of feet behind her trying to decide if he should use the project as an excuse as to why he was there or just straight up bring up what he wanted to talk about. John thought about it for a while before he finally walked over to where she was and took a seat next to her. Lita seemed to be distracted because she didn't even notice someone had just taken the previous vacant spot next to her.

"Hi," John said after a while which earned him the redhead's attention.

Lita groaned when she heard that familiar voice speak to her. She looked over at John with a scowl present on her face, something the other teen had become so familiar with the last few days. "Did my mom tell you I was here? I told her not to tell anyone, it's bad enough she told Matt and now you. I mean, you of all people. Why would she do that?"

"She didn't tell me anything. I actually didn't even see your mom. Christy-"

"And this is why I don't tell her anything," Lita cut her off. "She's so naive and would believe anything anyone says to her so of course she would tell you."

"Christy told me you weren't home," John continued after the interruption. "She said she didn't know where you were." Lita didn't say anything for a while as she tried to think about how John would even know where she was. She must have forgotten that it came up during a conversation once because she liked to keep it a secret. No one but her mother knew where she liked to go when she just needed some time by herself. "I know you better than you think I do."

Lita rolled her eyes. "Then you should know me well enough to know that I don't want you here."

John ignored Lita as he spoke. "You said you wanted to work on the project during break-"

"That was before I found out what a jackass you really are."

John sighed. "Lita, I'm-"

"Shut up," Lita cut him off. "I don't want to hear anything you have to say so just shut up. As for the project, I already told you the topic. I need some time to research and then I'll email you the information and you can prepare the presentation."

"Wouldn't it be easier and save us time if we worked on it together?"

Lita shook her head as she got up from the bench. "No. And since you don't seem to want to leave, I will," she said before she tried to walk away, but was stopped when John said something that pissed her off.

"Why not?" John began to say before he could help it. "It'll give you more time for your new boyfriend." He didn't stop even when Lita turned around and she looked even more angry than she already was. "Didn't take you long-"

"You are such an ass," Lita cut him off and that's when he realized how angry she looked and he immediately regretted what he just said. "We are over so what I do if with another guy is none of your business. Actually, our relationship was a lie so there's no such thing as me moving on too fast because there was nothing to move on from."

John shook his head as he got up from where he was sitting and walked closer to Lita who took two steps back to create some space between them. "It wasn't a lie." He was about to say more, but wasn't able to when she spoke up.

Lita scoffed. "Yes it was. I was just a way for you to prove a point, boost your ego, and earn a few bucks."

"If you would just let me talk, then you would know how sorry I am. Yes, it started off as a bet, but it stopped a long time ago."

The redhead shook her head as she interrupted the brunette yet again. "If what you're saying is true, then how come you never told me? How come I had to hear it from that stupid bimbo? In front of the whole school none the less?"

"I was going to tell you-"

"You're only saying that because you got caught. You know what? I don't even care anymore. Just leave me alone." Lita began to walk away again only for John to grab her arm as a way to stop her.

Lita yanked her arm out of John's hold as she turned around to face him with the glare back on her face. "Don't ever touch me again."

"Can we please just talk?"

"No Cena! There's nothing left to say so just stop talking. Why does it matter? It's not like this was going to last outside of high school even if it wasn't just some game to you, right? I mean, this was bound to happen, who actually stays together after high school ends? There are plenty fish in the sea, go bother one of them because I'm done."

"Lita," John called out before she could attempt to leave.

"What?"

"It does matter."

"Why?"

"Because."

"That's not an answer."

"I... I... I mean, I... it just does, okay?"

"That's not an answer either."

"I... I just... you..."

Lita shook her head as she finally walked away after trying to convince herself she didn't care at all what John had to say while he decided it was best to just leave her alone for the time being.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. :)**


	25. Chapter 25

Lita groaned as she walked inside the classroom where detention was going to take place that following Friday afternoon. She earned herself two weeks of detention after her little scuffle with Stacy earlier in the week. She tried to get herself the typical three days of suspension only to fail with that. Apparently the school didn't want to suspend the seniors so close to the end of the school year which was why Lita was assigned two weeks of detention like John and Randy before her.

Lita didn't get herself only two weeks of detention, one week which was spent with John and would luckily be done with today, while two weeks were with Stacy. She also earned herself a very long lecture from her parents which ended up with her being grounded until she was practically thirty, but she definitely thought it was worth it. Lita thought Stacy definitely deserved what she got and it was a long time coming and she couldn't say she wasn't satisfied after punching the other teen. And the way Stacy screamed was icing on the cake.

_Lita was getting really sick and tired of all the looks people kept sending her way. She had been at school for not even five minutes and these people couldn't stop staring at her and whispering whatever it was they were talking about, but she just knew she was the topic of their conversation. The redhead was sure the blonde bitch was up to no good yet again. Oh how she missed spring break, one week was not enough._

_The teen didn't let it bother her much as she walked over to her locker only to stop when she saw yet another word spray painted on her locker. It was like dejavu because in big red letters, the word 'whore' was sprayed vertically on her locker. Lita rolled her eyes as she continued to walk to her locker. It seemed as if Stacy was out of ways to annoy her so she was resorting to her old tricks._

_Lita unlocked her locker and opened it and immediately jumped back when many boxes fell at her feet. She had no clue how any of this could have even gotten into her locker because it wasn't like anyone else knew the combination to the lock on her locker. "What the hell is all of this?" The teen muttered under her breath before she bent down to pick up one of the boxes to see what it was. Lita was so pissed off when she saw the what the objects were and decided she finally had enough of Stacy's games and it was time to let her know. "Bitch."_

_Lita got up and slammed her locker door shut before turning around with the intent to look for Stacy, but she didn't have to look far because the blonde, along with her minions, was standing a few feet way from her laughing and pointing at the redhead. Lita was glad she was alone because she was sure if Trish or anyone else was with her, then they would have tried to stop her and she wasn't going to deal with that. Enough was enough._

_"What the hell is your problem?" A pissed off Lita asked as she pushed Stacy back against one of the lockers when she arrived to where the other three teenagers were standing._

_"My problem?!" Stacy asked, trying to ignore the slight pain in her back. "You just pushed me and this isn't even your first time laying your hands on me!"_

_"You think you're so clever, don't you?!" Lita asked as she ignored what the other teen just said. "All those stupid ads, all those stupid things written on my locker, giving my phone number out online to perverts, and now those pills in my locker?! Did you really just waste a lot of money just to annoy the shit out of me?!"_

_"I don't know what you're talking about. I would never do any of those things you just accused me of doing." Obviously Stacy was lying because she knew there would be consequences if the school found out what she had been doing especially since spray painting Lita's locker was defacing the school's property. "But if I were the one to put birth control pills in your locker, then I wouldn't have thanked me the way you did if I were you." The redhead rolled her eyes and was about to say something, but the blonde continued with a smirk present on her face. "We all know how you like to sleep around, no wonder someone wrote whore on your locker for a second year in a row, so the person who put the pills in your locker is just looking out for you."_

_Lita nodded. "Yea, you're right. Where are my manners?" She smiled at Stacy before raising her arm and punching the unexpected blonde in the jaw. "Oh right, I don't have any!"_

_"You bitch!" Stacy yelled as she held her aching jaw. Unfortunately for her, Lita wasn't done and pushed her hard which ended up with her on the ground. Next thing Stacy knew, Lita's fists were pounding away away at her. Luckily enough, some teachers heard the commotion and quickly pulled the redhead away from the screaming blonde._

Lita couldn't help but smile to herself when those events played over in her head. Unfortunately for her, she began laughing during her parents lecture when they spoke about and reminded her about the fight which was why she was punished for double the time she would have been if it weren't for her little slip up.

It was all worth it though especially because Stacy practically left her alone for the rest of the week. The blonde hadn't really said much to the redhead other than a few choice words every now and then during detention which really didn't bother Lita at all. But there was one thing Stacy did which irked Lita to no end: there were daily attempts of flirting with John on Stacy's behalf and Lita hated how it made her feel. She didn't know why she became so annoyed and angry whenever Stacy tried to flirt with John. She couldn't understand why she became happy when her ex-boyfriend ignored Stacy and told her to leave him alone because he wasn't interested. It wasn't like Lita liked John anymore. It wasn't like she cared about him anymore. It wasn't like she even considered him as a friend. Lita actually hated John. Or at least that was what she told herself every time he was around her.

The redhead sighed as she took her usual seat in one of the desks towards the back of the classroom. Well, it was where she usually sat until John came in and sat down right next to her which always ended with her then moving to the other side of the classroom and two rows towards the front. Thankfully, John never followed Lita after that so she didn't have to change her seat for a second time. Since her back was facing him, Lita didn't notice how John would stare at her every now and then. She would have been totally oblivious had Randy not called the other teen out on it. Before a useless argument could erupt between the two former teammates about Randy putting his nose where it doesn't belong, Lita intervened and told her twin brother basically what John would have. The older of the two told the younger one to mind his own business and worry about himself because she could handle herself. Surprisingly enough, the redhead's brother finally decided to leave Lita alone when it came to John.

Lita looked up when she heard the door close a few moments later. She looked around the room and saw Stacy sitting far away from her with Torrie and Candice next to her. She thought it was so pathetic that Stacy made her friend fake getting into a fight just so they would be in detention with her. Randy was a couple of desks away and there were other people in detention as well, but there was no sign of John. As if on cue, Mr. Bischoff opened the door and in walked John.

"Nice of you to finally join us Mr. Cena," the Vice Principal said as he allowed John to enter the room. "You're late."

John shook his head. "You saw me a few feet way and you still closed the door."

"Everyone was supposed to be in here before the door closes. I don't care if you were just about to enter as I closed the door because you would still be late then. And being late to detention earns you another day of detention." Lita groaned when she heard Mr. Bischoff tell John he would be there on Monday again which made the brunette look at her with the redhead immediately looking away. "Now go take a seat and try not to sit next to the Orton girl, this isn't musical chairs." John rolled his eyes as he took a seat a in the front of the classroom.

Lita scowled as she looked over at the Vice Principal. "I have a name."

Mr. Bischoff shrugged. "It's all the same. Now no more talking," he said before walking to the door. "I have better things to do than to watch over a bunch of delinquents. I will be checking in every now and then so don't think you can get away with leaving." With that said, he left the classroom and shut the door behind him.

It was around the time when Lita would usually put her headphones in and begin listening to music so she could drown everyone else's sounds out, but she forgot to put the in her bag that morning so now she had to endure listening to people talk. She looked around the room and noticed Stacy getting up from where she was previously sitting and taking a seat at the desk right next to John. Lita rolled her eyes before taking her phone out and texting Trish. That wasn't something that went unseen by her brother who could tell she looked a little jealous and pissed off when Stacy sat down next to John and began talking to him, but he said nothing.

"Hey John!" A cheery Stacy exclaimed after she sat down next to him.

"Hi," was all John said in response, not bothering look look up from his phone. Just like the last time he got into a fight with Randy, his parents took his phone away from, but let him keep it when he went to school and work just in case of an emergency. Next thing the brunette knew, the phone was out of his hands and now in the possession of the blonde. "Give me my phone back."

Stacy shook her head as she place his phone in her purse with no intention of giving John the object back until after she talked to him. "I'm trying to talk to you and here you are being rude by staying on your phone."

John rolled his eyes. "What do you want."

"The weather is getting better and school's is going to be over in like six weeks so what better time to throw a party-"

"Can't," John began to say before Stacy had a chance to finish whatever it was she was about to say, "I'm busy."

Stacy frowned. "But you don't even know when it is."

John shrugged. "Doesn't matter because I'm sure I'll still be busy."

"Then give me a date that works for you and I can set my party for that day."

"2035," John replied. Stacy laughed and those around her could tell it was forced. Lita smiled and chuckled to herself when she heard John's answer which wasn't something that went unnoticed by Randy once again. He noticed how ticked off Lita was when Stacy first sat down next to John and how her mood changed for the better as John completely blew her off.

Stacy playfully slapped John on the arm and laughed. "You're so funny. Come on, you can't let me go to my own party without a date."

"I'm not the only guy in this school. And even if I was, I'm not the only guy in town."

"But you're the only guy that I want."

John opened his mouth to say something, but stopped himself as he took a chance to look behind him at Lita who was looked right at him and looked way the instance their eyes met. He smiled as he turned around to look at the blonde. "Well I don't want you."

"This is about the whore, isn't it?"

John scowled. "She's not a whore."

Stacy rolled her eyes. "Of course she is. And were you or were you not paid three hundred dollars for dealing with her?"

"Actually, I wasn't. Now kindly give my my phone back." Stacy didn't say anything in response as she took the phone out of her purse and finally gave it back to John.

"Really John, you could do so much better." With that said, Stacy got up and went back to where she was originally sitting with Torrie and Candice.

Mr. Bischoff came to the room a couple of minutes later and stayed there for maybe two minutes before leaving once again after he was satisfied with how bored the quiet students looked. Of course all of that changed once he was gone. John looked back over at Lita who was now doodling in her notebook. Without giving it another thought, John got up and walked to where Lita was before sitting down next to her.

Lita looked up from her notebook when she noticed someone was now occupying the vacant seat to the left side of her. She wasn't surprised when she saw the intruder was John. They two simply stared at one another for a while before Lita looked away and continued to draw in her notebook. She thought about moving away for a moment before deciding ignoring him would just do the same trick.

"Hi," John said after a while and to no surprise of his, Lita continued with the task at hand as she ignored him. He opened his mouth to say more, but was cut off when Lita decided she just didn't want to deal with him at all.

"How many times do I have to tell you to leave me alone before you actually do it?" Lita asked as she looked away from her notebook and up at John.

"Why won't you talk to me?" John asked, ignoring her question.

"Because I don't like you and I don't waste my time with people I could care less about." Lita returned her attention back to her notebook and continued to doodle.

"I'm sorry."

Lita didn't say anything right away. She shook her head and sighed as she looked back up at him. "That's good for you, but I really don't care anymore."

"If you don't care anymore, then why are you still mad at me? Why won't you talk to me?"

"Because we're not friends, Cena. We never really were. It was all just a game to you."

"It wasn't."

Lita snorted. "Sure it wasn't. And you know what? It doesn't even matter anymore so just shut up and leave me alone."

"It does matter."

"Not this again."

"Lita-"

"John! If it matters, then you have a reason, but you don't have a reason so it doesn't matter so just leave me the hell alone! Just like you told Stacy, there are plenty of other girls in this school that you can bother. I'm not the only girl in this world so just leave me alone and go bother one of them because I'm done! I done with you! I don't care about you!"

"Don't lie."

"Shut up!"

"Why are you so damn stubborn?!" John finally snapped. He was really trying to be patient with her and wait for her, but it didn't look like the wait would be over any time soon. The others in the room looked over at Randy thinking he was about to shut John up, but he just sat there as he observed the two. "Why can't you ever listen to what anyone has to say?!"

"The same could be said about you! Why are you such an asshole?!"

"Lita, I'm sorry! I never wanted to hurt you! I never meant for any of that to happen! Why can't you see that?!"

"Complete and utter bullshit!"

"I didn't like you when you I agreed to that stupid bet! I didn't even know you like I do now-"

"You still don't know me! None of that shit even matters anymore so please just leave me alone!"

"Yes it does!"

"Why?!"

"Because I love you!"

Lita wasn't the only one shocked once those words left John's mouth. John surprised himself too with what he just said not because he didn't mean it, but because he just didn't mean to blurt it out like that. Especially not during an argument while in detention at school of all places with people watching. He knew he had feelings for her and he cared about her and he didn't just like her, he just didn't know until now that it translated into him loving her.

The redhead finally looked away from the brunette after a long moment of silence. Lita began to put her notebook away in her bag before getting up from her desk so she could get out of there. She shook her head as he turned her focus on John. "No you don't. Don't ever say that to me ever again." And with that, she left.

It was quiet in the classroom for a while after Lita left with Stacy breaking the silence with her laugh. "How much does Chris owe you for saying that?"

"Shut up."

Stacy rolled her eyes. "Seriously John, she's not-"

"Shut up!" Stacy decided to do just that because John was really angry and he was kind of scaring her. No one said anything for the duration of detention and Mr. Bischoff came back five minutes later. He asked everyone where 'the Orton girl' was. Randy was the first to answer and said that his sister wasn't feeling way because she was just recovering from the stomach flu so she went to the bathroom before she puked all over the desk. About everyone except Stacy agreed to everything Randy said so the Vice Principal took Randy's words as the truth even though he had his suspicions.

"Wait up," Randy called after John when detention was over with for the day. They were now in the student parking and Randy realized he probably didn't have a way to get home because he was sure Lita drove off with their car.

John rolled his eyes as he continued to walk to his car, not bothering to turn around to face Randy. "You won't catch me off guard this time so I will kick your ass."

Randy rolled his eyes when he finally caught up with the other teen. "Not true. But that's not even the point because I'm not here to fight with you."

"Then what do you want?" John asked as the duo stopped walking when they arrived to John's car.

"You kind of owe my a ride since Lita did leave me here stranded because of you."

John snorted. "I don't give a damn. There are things called busses and, oh yeah, you can walk." He opened the door so he could get inside his car, but stopped when Randy spoke.

"Did you mean it?" John nodded. He didn't even have to ask Randy was he was talking about because he was pretty sure he knew. "Then why-"

"I didn't even like her when this all began. Time and just getting to know her changed everything."

Randy snorted. "That's not true."

"That was in middle school." Once again, John knew where Randy was headed with that.

Randy shrugged. "Doesn't change anything."

"If you stop talking, then I'll drop you off home."

"Fine. I'd like to think I backed off and kept my cool recently, but I promise if you hurt my sister again, then I will kill you."

"It's none of your business what happens between me and her."

"Again, my sister."

"Still none of your business."

"And that's where I disagree."

"Do you still want that ride or no?"

Randy rolled his eyes, not saying anything as he opened the car door and sat down in the passenger seat. Like he told John, he was going to continue to not interfere with what happened between him and Lita. Randy just wanted his sister to be happy and for some unknown reason to him, it was clear she still had feelings for John. And if John made her happy, then Randy would have to deal with it just like John would have to deal with Randy if he hurt her again.

Meanwhile, Lita just arrived home and went straight to her room. She couldn't believe what John said to her and she was so pissed off. She was pretty sure that's what he wanted to say the other day at Fed Hill, but wasn't able to. The redhead groaned in frustration as she three her bag on the ground and her phone on her bed. She knew one of her parents would be coming by soon to confiscate the object, but she didn't care.

Lita looked over at the wall in her room which displayed many pictures of her family and friends. It was easy to spot the ones with John in the pictures because there were quite a few for which she felt really stupid and foolish for. She walked over and ripped one off of the wall and simply stared at it for a while before ripping it up. She repeated her actions with another picture before she looked down to see the third one. The third picture was one taken at homecoming after Lita was announced as Queen and John and King. She badly wanted to rip up that picture as well, but wasn't able to bring herself to do so. She didn't know what it was, but there was just something about that picture that Lita loved.

The redhead was taken out of her thoughts and looked over at her bed when she heard her phone ring. Lita took a deep breath before walking to her bed and picking up her phone before answering it. "What?"

"Um, hi," the voice on the other end spoke. "Are you okay?"

Lita sighed as she took a seat on her bed. "Sorry. Hi."

"Hey. Again, you okay?"

"Perfect."

"Lita-"

"Christian, is there something that you need? I'm sure my mom's on her way to take away my phone."

"Oh right. You're still grounded, huh?"

Lita nodded. "Yes and you're wasting time so I would get to the reason why you called me if I were you."

"Oh yeah. Okay. Um, so I wondering if, maybe, you know, you would like to hang out after your free to do whatever."

Lita was confused. She didn't take this the way Christian meant for it to be taken. "Um, okay. But why-"

"I don't mean like usual. I mean like, um, just the two of us."

That's when it hit her. She was surprised because she never thought of Christian anymore than just a friend and was pretty sure he felt the same way. But she guessed she was wrong. "Like a date?"

"If that's what you want to call it."

"I don't think-" Lita stopped herself when she looked back down at the picture in her hands. She couldn't help but wonder how John would react when he found out she was going on a date. How John would feel to find out she moved on and was clearly over him? She would make sure the news made its way to him. If he loved her like he claimed to, then this would be great revenge for what he did to her. "Yea, okay. I'd love to."

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**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Special thanks to RedMary4, my time is now, Cena's baby doll, therealchamps, kay, Guest(s), and Bajor10. Hope you liked the chapter. Let me know what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	26. Chapter 26

Lita just finished drying her hair after a nice long shower the next afternoon. She was really glad she didn't have work until the next day so she was able to catch up on some much needed sleep that day. Sleep was very hard to come by during the night because her mind just wouldn't shut off, but once she fell asleep, she was actually able to stay asleep for a few hours. Lita just couldn't stop thinking about John and the events that occurred in detention that Friday afternoon no matter how hard she tried. Lita really hated how he had been consuming her thoughts lately and it only seemed to escalate since yesterday. Those three words kept playing over and over again in Lita's mind and she hated it and she hated John. At least that's what she kept telling herself hoping it would come true.

The redhead sighed as she hung the towel behind the door in the bathroom to let it dry as she tried to get those thoughts of John out of her head. Lita opened the door and walked into her room, letting out a yelp and jumping back a little when she saw an unexpected guest on her bed looking through her books.

"What the hell?" Lita said, holding her hand against her chest when she felt her heart pounding due to the surprise of seeing one of her best-friends in her room when it was empty before she went to the bathroom for her shower. "I almost had a heart attack."

Edge rolled his eyes as he put the book he was previously looking at back in its spot. "Stop being so dramatic."

Lita walked towards the teen, picked up one of the pillows off of her bed and whacked him in the arm with it. "Asshole. Why are you in my room going through my stuff?"

"Okay, you need to learn how to speak with your mouth and not your hands. And it's only books. I'm not going to find anything juicy unless you keep a diary. You got one of those?"

Lita rolled her eyes, taking a seat on an empty spot on the bed. "I'm not twelve."

The blonde teen raised a brow. "So you kept a diary when you were twelve? You still have it? I wanna read what you used to think about me."

"No, I never had one," Lita replied before changing the subject. "How are you even here? I'm basically in prison so how did you get past the front door?"

"Oh your mom was ready to send me out the door, but I told her you did something really stupid and I'm just trying to stop you from going through with it."

Lita was confused as she tried to think about what it was Edge could he talking about, but nothing came to mind. "What are you talking about?"

"Get a call from Christian lately?"

Lita nodded. "Right. Well, that's none of your business."

"Actually, it is. Are you stupid? Did you hit your head against something?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. All I did was agree to go out on a date with a friend and it's none of your concern so you can stop talking about it."

"He actually likes you-" Edge was about to say more, but Lita decided it was a good part to interrupt him.

"What do you mean he actually likes me? Of course he does, I'm great. Plus, we're friends so obviously he likes me."

Edge rolled his eyes. "No you idiot. He actually likes you more than a friend. And don't tell him I told you this, but it's been a few months, maybe even a year." That surprised Lita, but she didn't say anything in regards to that. "He's just good at hiding it. He just thought he would have a chance after what happened with John because you know him and blah blah blah. I don't know. Anyways, what I meant by saying 'actually' was that unlike some people, he's not trying to make someone jealous by asking you out."

"Okay, that's good to know," was all Lita said in response as she got up from her bed and walked towards her closet. "I was going to organize my closet because it's such a mess so unless you want to help, you might want to leave."

"And that right there proves what I just said is true about you."

Lita shook her head as she turned around to face her friend. "I really don't know what you're talking about." She turned around again and opened the closet door before pulling the clothes that were on the ground out from there.

"You always change the subject and pretend you have something better to do when someone wants to talk about what you don't want to discuss."

"Still don't know what you're talking about," she said as she continued to take the clothes out of the closet.

"The only reason you told Christian yes when he asked you out was because you want to make John jealous." The blonde was about to say more, but was cut off by the redhead.

Lita shook her head. "Not true."

Edge snorted. "Sure it's not. He actually likes you. I don't care if you want to make John jealous, just don't do this to your friend."

"You're right, Christian is a friend which is why I said yes because, who knows, maybe this will turn into something good. Sure, I only like him like a friend, but I'm willing to give him a chance."

"Is this about John telling you that he loves you?"

Lita paused for a moment before tossing the last of the clothes on the pile outside of the closet and turning her full attention to Edge. "What... how... how did you... why do you know that?"

Edge shrugged. "People talk. You know you and John weren't the only ones in detention, right?"

"Randy told you?" Lita asked, ignoring what her friend just said.

The blonde teen shook his head. "No. Trish did and now don't ask me who told her because I don't know and I don't care, but you know she has her ways."

Lita didn't say anything in response as she turned her attention back to her clothes, but she didn't feel like cleaning anymore. She let out a sigh as she sat down on the ground knowing she should just pick up the mess now before it escalated even though she still made no movement to continue with the task. The redhead shook her head before looking back at the blonde. "You're wrong. I don't care what he said because it doesn't make a difference to me and I hate him."

Edge rolled his eyes, not believing a word his friend just said. "Don't lie, just tell me the truth. Why did you agree to go out with Christian? And how do you really feel about what John said."

"That is the truth and I would really like it if you would leave now."

Edge opened his mouth to say something in response to that, but was cut short when the door opened to reveal Randy. "I was beginning to think you finally lost it," he began to say as he entered the room after he saw Lita wasn't alone, "but I guess you weren't talking to yourself. Why do you get visitors and I don't?"

"He was just leaving," Lita said.

Edge shook his head. "Actually, I wasn't. I'm not leaving until you tell me the truth."

"I already told you that I hate him so you can leave."

"Who, John?" Randy asked after he closed the door and walked more into the room. "Na, she's lying. I'm sure she loves him too. Or at least still has feelings for him. And I just puked in my mouth."

Lita glared at her brother. "Why would you say something stupid like that?"

Randy rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. "Yea it's stupid that you even like him, but it's the truth. You kept looking at him all through out detention. You were listening to every single word John and Stacy were saying to one another. You looked so jealous and angry when Stacy sat next to him and you got so happy and couldn't stop smiling when John turned her down."

Lita shook her head. "No, I was laughing at how stupid Stacy looked."

Randy scoffed. "I'm not blind nor am I stupid so I know what I saw."

"I don't care what he does. He can do whatever and whoever he pleases. Screw Cena."

"You already did," a new voice spoke up and that's when the three in the room noticed someone just joined them in the room. "And I'm still upset you didn't tell me about it."

Randy groaned as the blonde teen walked into the room and took a seat next to the redhead after closing the door behind her. "Brother in the room, Trish. I really don't need to hear anything about that. At all."

Trish shrugged. "Well it happened and there's nothing you can do about it." She continued after looking over at Lita who was now playing with one of her shirts. "Did it happen once or more-"

"Trish!" Randy exclaimed before she could get any further. "Shut up!"

Trish rolled her eyes. "Whatever. We'll talk about it when he's not here."

"No we won't," Lita said. "Can you all leave? I have stuff to do."

"No can do," Trish said before any of the other two could say the same. "Edge told me what you did yesterday even after what happened with John. I love you so I say this as nice as possible, are you out of your mind?"

"Trish-"

The blonde teen shook her head as she cut off the redhead. "No. I'm talking right now so you will listen." Trish didn't wait for Lita to say anything as she continued. "Christian is your friend so you can't use him and take advantage of his feelings for you."

"Who said I'm using him for anything? All I did was agree to the date. Yea, I only like him as a friend, but like I told other blondie, I'm giving Christian a chance."

"Because you want to piss off John and make him jealous," Trish finished for her.

Lita shook her head. "No. And when did this become team jackass all of a sudden? Even if making him jealous was my motive, it doesn't change what he did to me. Don't act like he wouldn't deserve that. You," she looked over at her twin before continuing, "Don't even like him. How many fights have you gotten into with him?" She glanced between her two best-friends before speaking again. "And you two are my best-friends so you're not supposed to take his side at all."

"And Christian is my other best-friend," Edge spoke up, "so I'm not on team John, I'm on the team where you don't hurt one of your friends just to get back at somebody else."

"For the billionth time, it's not about Cena. My life does not revolve around him. If he happens to find out about my future date with Christian and isn't a fan of it, then, you know, that's great, but that's not my intention. It's a plus, but that's not why I said yes to Christian.'

"Stop lying to yourself."

"Okay fine. Maybe there is a tiny bit part of me who wants to hurt him like he hurt me, but I really am just giving a friend a chance."

"Nope," Randy shook his head, "It's all the first part."

"No, if it was just about getting back at Cena, then I would have gotten Edge to pretend to be my boyfriend."

Edge laughed. "That's really funny that you think I would have done that."

"Fine, then I would have just used Matt and I know how he feels about me and I wouldn't have felt bad for playing him." The other three all groaned, but none of them had a chance to say anything as Lita continued. "You all need to leave now."

"Lita-"

"Out. Now."

"Lita-"

"Now."

"Okay, but-"

"Now!" The other three simply glanced at one another before the two guys left the room with the girl staying behind. "That included you too Trish," Lita said as she got up from the ground and moved to her bed.

Trish sighed as she got up and walked to Lita's bed before sitting down next to her friend. "Not until we talk-"

"There's nothing to talk about."

Trish nodded. "Yes there is. Lita... I know you're upset and angry with John and you have every right to be, but... how do you feel... what... do you... You cannot lie to me right now. Please tell me the truth. How did you feel when he said when he said he loves you."

"Disgusted. Pissed off. Annoyed. Angry."

"Do you love him?"

Lita didn't say anything immediately as she decided to look away instead. She didn't have to think about what Trish just asked her because she thought about it a lot after John's confession yesterday and she knew exactly how she felt. She knew she never felt that way about another guy before and it scared her, but she really didn't want to talk about it right now. "No," was all she said, not bothering to face Trish once again.

"Look at me and tell me that. Even if you don't love him, do you still have feelings for him?"

The redhead closed her eyes and took a deep breath before looking back at the blonde. "No, I don't love John because I hate him. Hate is the only type of feeling I have for him. He screwed with me and my feelings so now he's going to know how it feels."

Trish didn't believe anything her friend just said to her. She got up and walked over to the spot on the wall which had different pictures posted on it. She took one off in particular before sitting back down next to Lita. "So why do you still have this picture? You wouldn't mind if I just ripped this up?"

Lita looked at the picture in Trish's hands and noticed it was the one from homecoming. "Yes, I would."

"Why? Why do you even have a picture with him if you hate him?"

"Because I look good in it so please give it back," Lita said as she tried to take the picture out of Trish's hands only to fail with that.

"Okay. I'll just cut this in half that way he's out of it and, wala, it's a good solo picture of you."

"Don't."

"Why not? Do you have scissors in here somewhere?" Trish tried to get up from the bed so she could go find a pair of scissors and do as she said, but was stopped when Lita grabbed her arm. "If you're over him, then why do you still have these memories of him in your room?"

"I like those pictures of me."

"All of them? What about the ones in your phone. Let me go get your phone from your mom so we can delete every memory you have of him then you can officially be over him."

"Stop it."

"Why? Lita, if you claim to hate John then-"

"I don't hate him Trish!" Lita finally snapped and Trish was glad prying and her bluff about destroying and deleting her pictures with John worked. "Yes, I still have feelings for him! I care about that jackass! I can't stop thinking about him no matter how hard I try! Why do you think it hurts so damn much!" She tried to say more, but stopped when he felt tears streaming down her face and she just let herself cry. It wasn't long after that that Trish took her in for a hug. The next words that left Lita's mouth came out really quiet, but Trish still heard them and she couldn't say that she was surprised. "I love him."

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**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Let me know what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	27. Chapter 27

"Wait, what did you just say?" Trish asked Lita the next Friday morning when the two were at their lockers. The blonde teen almost dropped the books from her hands when she heard what the redhead just said. She wanted to make sure she was hearing her friend correctly and Trish was desperately hoping that was not the case.

Lita rolled her eyes as she put some of the books she would be needing later that day into her locker. She knew Trish heard exactly what she just said and she just knew what her friend was going to say. Trish could be be so predictable sometimes. "I can't celebrate the end of my sentence, as you put, both at home and at school with you at the mall all day tomorrow because I have a date with Christian."

Trish didn't say anything as she simply stared at her friend who was just finishing up swapping some of her books. The fact that Lita was actually going through with her date with Christian surprised Trish way more than when the other teen revealed the truth of how she felt about John. The fact that Lita was still going on the date with Christian surprised the blonde because the redhead told her friend that she loved John. She loved one guy, yet she was going on a date with another just to get under the first one's skin. There was no way this was going to end good. Trish just knew all of this was going to blow up in Lita's face, now only if the redhead could see this herself.

"Why did your parents give you only two weeks?"

"Because they knew their first choice of grounding me until I'm thirty was not possible," Lita answered even though she knew Trish was not looking for an answer.

Trish scowled. "Shut up. They should have given you more than just two weeks. Like way more. Maybe that time would have given you more time to think and it would have changed your mind about doing something stupid. Something very very stupid."

Lita rolled her eyes yet again as she closed her locker door shut after she was done getting what she needed and putting away what she would need much later. "Going on a date with a friend is not stupid. It's just seeing what else is out there. I'm young, it's time to explore."

Trish shook her head. "No. You're totally wrong. Li, going on a date with a friend to make someone that you love envious-"

Lita slapped Trish on the arm before looking around them to make sure no one was listening to them. "Will you shut up? Someone could hear you say something totally ridiculous. First of all, I'm not trying to make anyone jealous so stop saying that. Cena's not even important enough for me to try and make him jealous. And if I wanted to make jackass jealous, then I would have just went for Matt. I mean, they're family and they don't like each other. I even got a little glimpse of how that would work out during Spring break. I know exactly what I would do if I wanted to do that, but I don't so I'm not going to."

"For someone who doesn't want to make someone else jealous, you sure thought it through and kinda have a plan."

Lita ignored Trish and continued. "And more importantly, I told you this before, I was having a weak moment when I said that so no, I don't... I hate him." Trish rolled her eyes, but didn't say anything as she put the things she need yet away in her locker and Lita continued. "I wasn't thinking clearly because there's no way in hell I love... he doesn't even..." She trailed off and groaned in frustration. "We're only seventeen, what the hell do we know about love? This is stupid. It's all just so dumb."

"You're turning eighteen," Trish began to say as she shut her locker door and the duo began walking to their respective homeroom, "pretty soon and he's not far behind you with that."

"Wow Trish. Yes, a couple of days makes makes a huge difference."

"You're right, age doesn't make a difference. You know my parents fell in love in high school and-"

"I don't need to hear this story again."

"Yes you do. Age doesn't matter. Feelings don't have an age. Feelings don't care how old you are. It's not like you're thirteen and confusing a crush for love. Stop being so hard-headed and just accept that you and John love each other."

"False. And stop saying that out loud."

"You're false," Trish said ignoring the second part of what Lita said. She was about to say more, but, to no surprise of hers, her friend quickly spoke up.

"Oh looky," Lita said stopping outside of her first period class. She had never been more glad to go to biology class. "I get off at this stop. Hopefully I won't be seeing you soon." With that said, she walked into the classroom, but not without hearing Trish call after her and tell her they weren't done with their conversation. Lita scoffed at that thought. "Oh yes we are, blondie," Lita muttered under her breath.

John looked up from his desk when he heard a loud and familiar voice coming from outside the classroom. He looked up to see Lita shaking her head and muttering something to herself as she walked inside the classroom and towards where he was sitting. She kept her gaze on the ground in front of her and John knew it was just Lita's way of avoiding him which she had been doing a pretty good job of since his confession at detention a week ago. Neither of the two said much to one another this last week except for their very short discussion about their final project for biology the day before which would thankfully finally be all over with on Monday after the presentation.

"Hey," John said to Lita who predictably ignored him as she took her seat at her spot at their lab bench and continued on with her morning like she didn't just hear him greet her.

The brunette didn't say anything else as he turned his attention away from the redhead and back to the notebook in front of him. John wasn't in school yesterday so he was copying notes from yesterday's class before today's began. Mr. Regal turned their presentations as a learning and teaching opportunity so the students could use it to help them study for the AP exam that was coming up real soon. So it wasn't like usual when the students would just sit there and pretend to be interested in what the other students were saying because it would actually come to use for them during their exam.

The teen stopped writing when he saw a couple of sheets of paper being placed on his area of the lab bench. He looked over at Lita who was looking right at him at the moment, but then quickly looked away and began looking through her backpack like she was looking for something. John was about to question her actions, but Lita spoke up before he could.

"Those are the notes from yesterday's presentations," Lita said as she continued to pretend to look through her bag. "I type up the notes every night so it's organized and it's easier to study them. I'm sure they're better than whoever notes your trying to copy right now. I printed myself a copy so I thought why not? It's not like you were here yesterday."

John looked down at the notes he was trying to copy down before class started and he knew there was no way he would have been able to finish writing all of it down especially because he wasn't even half way done with it. He looked back up at Lita who was now scribbling away in her notebook. "Thanks."

The redhead didn't say anything in response so John knew she was back to ignoring him. He turned around so he could give Dave his notebook back. He looked through the notes Lita took and she was right, they were far better than anything Dave wrote. John was really confused as to why she would easily hand over some notes for him when he didn't even ask for them, but he decided not to say anything about that.

John looked back over at Lita once again and was ready to speak to her, but he was beat by Mr. Regal. "It seems like most, if not all, of you are here now. In my hands are an end of year supperlatives which I will be distributing to you all now," he said as he handed half to one person sitting in the front on the right side of the room and one to another student on the left so they could take one and pass it around. "Vote for whoever you want in the different categories. I will collect them after the announcements."

"So I was thinking that maybe we should meet up this weekend to go over our presentation since it is on Monday," John said to Lita after the teacher was done talking. He took the papers from the student in front before taking one for himself and one for Lita and handing the rest to Victoria behind him.

Lita didn't say anything right away as she took the paper from John. She didn't look over the different categories and those nominated as she looked up to face John. "Why? We're both familiar with our work so we'll do fine."

"I just think we should go over it together once otherwise it'll probably be a big mess while we're presenting the information."

Lita shrugged as she looked away and back at the paper in front of her with John doing the same. "Whatever." She was just going to leave it at that, but then she remembered something else. She looked back over at John because she wanted to see his reaction for this. "It has to happen either after school today or on Sunday because I'm busy tomorrow. I have a date."

John didn't say anything right away and Lita knew he heard what she said because he was actually checking off some of the boxes for his vote and he stopped when he heard her tell him that she had a date the next day. The brunette looked over at the redhead and Lita could have sworn she saw him look upset for a moment before his expression became one that was hard to read.

"You have a date?" John asked Lita who nodded. "You have a date tomorrow?" She nodded once again. "You have a date with a guy?"

Lita rolled her eyes. "Yup."

"Oh." He didn't say anything else as he looked back to the page in front of him. He was trying to figure out if she was just messing with him or if she really did have a date. And if Lita did have a date, then who was it with? He wanted to ask her, but was sure he wouldn't get the answer to that.

"What the hell is this nonsense!?" Lita exclaimed a few moments later. John turned his attention to Lita and noticed she looked really irritated and disgusted as she looked down at the paper in front of her. He followed her gaze to one of the categories for the supperlatives and instantly saw what she was looking at. They were both nominated for cutest couple. He must have not gotten that far on his own.

"Oh. It's not a big deal," John said which earned him a look which would have sent him to an early death if looks could indeed do that.

Lita scoffed. "Of course it's not to you. You probably did this. You nominated us. It's another one of your lame games."

John shook his head. "Actually it's not." He was about to say more, but Lita stopped listening to him and turned around to snatch both Victoria and Dave's papers to see who they voted for her.

"You better change your votes," Lita said to the two partners, both of whom voted for John and Lita.

Victoria rolled her eyes as she took the pages back from her friend, but said nothing as it was Dave who spoke. "I could care less about this crap so I'm only voting for people I know."

"I'm pretty sure you know Hunter and Stephanie," Lita pointed out.

"Yea, but I don't really like her that much so no."

Lita scowled, but didn't say anything so she focused her attention to Victoria. "You know they're a better choice."

Victoria rolled her eyes. "You know I love Steph, but there's no way in hell I'm giving her a chance to boost her ego."

"Then vote one of the randoms."

Victoria rolled her eyes, "I rather not," as she handed the peice of paper to Mr. Regal who was collecting the votes.

"Ms. Orton, class is about to begin so stop talking and turn around in your seat."

Lita didn't say anything in response as she did as she told. She wanted to know what kind of moron could have nominate her and John for cutest couple. They weren't a couple anymore. Hell, they weren't one to begin with.

* * *

John and Lita were at the former's house later that afternoon after the latter was done with her last day of detention to go over their presentation. They chose to go to John's house because, unlike Lita's house, there was no one around until later that evening meaning there would be no unnecessary distractions and they could get this over with as quickly as possible. Once again Lita told her mom she was at the library working on her project so she was only half lying. Plus, it wasn't like her moment needed to worry about her being alone with John in the first place.

As Lita was going over the possible questions their classmates and teacher could ask them, John couldn't help but think about what he saw at lunch just a couple hours ago. Lita was acting a little too friendly with Christian and it really bothered him. She was getting all touchy feely and way too friendly with the other teen. Of course she was keeping it pretty PG since they were at school, but Lita was still all over Christian. John could have sworn Lita was doing it on purpose because she kept looking over at him every now and then. He tried so hard to not let it bother him, but the more he thought about it, the more it bothered him and he just couldn't stop thinking about it no matter how hard he tried.

Come to think of it, today was not the only time he saw Lita all over Christian this past week. It seemed like the two were with each other a lot during lunch over this last week. Sure, the two were already friends, but their demeanor was different recently and it was weird especially because the redhead shied away from the whole public display for affection thing. And then it hit John.

"It's Christian, isn't it?" John asked Lita who looked away from the laptop and towards him. She looked really confused so he continued. "The date? Christian is the guy you have a date with tomorrow," that was more of a statement than a question that left his mouth. "It's so clear now. I mean, you've been all over this this whole week."

"I don't see how that's any of your business," Lita began to say as she turned her attention back to their presentation on his computer. It seemed to her that John was getting upset and she was glad her plan was working. "We need to be preparing for any questions these people will be throwing at us."

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to look stupid in front of everyone."

John shook his head. "That's not what I was talking about."

Lita sighed, turning her attention back to John who was still staring at her. "Because he's my friend who asked me out so I'm giving him a chance."

"You're going out with him even after-"

"Yes John," Lita cut him off. "I'm going out with him even after the lies that left your mouth last week."

"It was the truth. Lita, I-"

Lita shook her head in disbelief. "Don't. No it wasn't and you know that so don't say it again. And even if what you said was the truth, it doesn't make a difference to me because I don't give a damn." She tried to get them back on track with preparation for their presentation, but, unfortunately for her, that's not what John wanted.

"Lita, whether or not you want to hear it doesn't change the fact that it's the truth. I do... I love you and I know you-"

"No I don't," Lita interjected as she began gathering her belongings before she got up from she was sitting on the ground. "We already went over enough so there's no point of me staying here any longer."

"Why won't you just admit it?"

"What? That you're a jackass? Oh, I admit that all of the time." With that said, Lita began to walk away with John following after her.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about."

"Shut up John." She stopped in place and turned around to face him. "We're only seventeen-"

"Don't even use that. Age doesn't matter. I know how I feel about you."

"And I know how I feel about you. I hate you."

John shook his head as he walked closer to the other teen who stayed in place and didn't make any type of movement to back away from him even when he got to closer for comfort. "No you don't. If you did hate me, then you wouldn't care about what I did and-"

"I don't."

" -I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you."

"You didn't do anything to me because you're not important enough to have an effect on me. I don't give a shit about you."

"Don't lie to me. Don't lie to yourself."

"Shut up John! Just shut the hell up!"

John knew it would probably be in his best interest to stay patient with Lita and not shout back at her, but she was really getting on his nerves when she wasn't trying to listen to anything that he was saying. "Why are you so damn stubborn?!"

"The same reason you're an irritating pain the neck!"

"Why won't you ever listen to what anyone has to say?! Always doing whatever you want!"

"No shit sherlock, it's my life! Just leave me alone! I don't know why you care so damn much!"

"Because I love you!"

"Don't start with that bullshit again! I'm not wasting any more of my time with you so goodbye!"

Lita turned around and began to walk over to the door so she could leave, but he grabbed her wrist before she could get too far. She took a deep breath and continued as calmly as she could. "Get the hell off of me." John did no such thing, instead turning Lita around so she was facing him and pulling her closer to himself. She had no clue what was going on in that mind of his, but the look in his eyes was slightly scaring her, but she wasn't showing it.

Before Lita could say or so anything else, John crushed his lips against her own. She tried to fight against the kiss even though she didn't want to at the same time. The redhead placed her hands on the brunette's chest and pushed him away from her so there was distance between the two.

"Don't ever do that again! You are such a-" Lita didn't get a chance to finish what she was in the middle of saying when she felt John's lips on hers once again. Only this time, she didn't do anything to stop him as she easily gave in and kissed him back.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. :)**


	28. Chapter 28

The weekend went by like a blur for John. He felt like it was way to short and he should still be at home doing whatever he wanted instead of in class preparing his mind for the presentation which he was not looking forward to. He shook his head and let out a sigh as he looked away from the notes for the presentation that Lita emailed him last night. John looked over to Lita's side of the lab bench and saw her backpack was there, yet she wasn't so he began looking around the room for her so they could go over some last minute things since their Friday night was interrupted by their fighting. Or maybe her fighting since it was one-sided for the most part.

It didn't take John long to locate Lita who was towards the back of the classroom on the other side. And of course she wasn't alone, she was with Christian. The brunette couldn't help but wonder if the redhead actually went on her date with the blonde teen. John was really hoping Lita didn't but from the way the two were talking and laughing, he was pretty sure they did.

Lita looked over at John after a while when she felt like someone was watching her. She rolled her eyes when she saw John was watching her and Christian even though she was glad he saw the two of them for her own reasons. She quickly looked back over at Christian and said a couple of words to him before she finally made her way back to the lab bench.

"Your date went that good?" John asked after Lita sat back down at her seat.

Lita rolled her eyes, turning her attention to John. "Not that it's any of your business, but yes, I had a great time." That necessarily wasn't a lie, but that wasn't the truth either because Lita didn't have a bad time, but she wouldn't say it was great either. She knew she was always going to see Christian as a friend only so it was a little awkward because it was more clear to her during the date that it was more than just two friends hanging out for him. Truth was, Lita couldn't help but think about John every now and then no matter how hard she tried. She definitely had more fun and felt more relaxed when she was with John and she hated how that thought ran through her mind. "The last guy that I "dated"," she began to say putting air quotes around the last word, "was a douche so this was refreshing."

John rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything in particular to the last part as he spoke. "You really think it was appropriate to go out on a date with another person after-"

"Just because I had horrible judgement and slept with you," she began to say as quietly as possible after she checked to make sure there was no one listening to them, "doesn't mean that fixes everything. I already told you that and I told you it meant nothing and I just had a weak moment."

"You're having a lot of those "weak moments" lately aren't you?"

Lita looked at him confused. "Why would you say that?" She remembered that was something she said to Trish a couple of days earlier when trying to take back the fact that she said that she loved John.

John shrugged. "I don't know. Why don't you tell me that?"

Lita didn't say anything for a moment as she thought whether or not Trish would actually tell John about their previous conversations. She shook those thoughts out of her head because there was no way her friend, her bestfriend, would go against her and share one of their conversations like that to the subject. "Just look at it this way, I was using you the way you were using me for months."

"How do you think your boyfriend would feel if he found out what we were doing a day before your date? Did you even wait a full twenty four hours?"

Lita scowled before looking over in front of her and taking the books she would need for that class out of her bag. "He's not my boyfriend."

"You didn't answer my question."

"Maybe you shouldn't have kissed me if you're going to worry about it this much."

"Is that all that it takes to get you into bed?"

"Shut up."

Much to Lita's surprise and relief, John didn't say anything in response and it became quiet between the two. It was only then did he realize that the announcements wrere on so John didn't even bother suggesting they should go over some last minute things for their presentation because there was no point now.

Just when John thought the announcements were about to end, the voice over the intercom began talking about the supperlatives and how voting took place on Thursday and Friday of last week. Apparently, they already had the winners ready to announce so they could take pictures for the yearbook later that week. He wasn't paying much attention because he really didn't care about the outcome, but then he heard his name followed by Lita's name and he had an inkling the two won cutest couple.

"That is so ridiculous," John heard Lita say from next to him so that confirmed his suspicions. He looked over at her and saw how angry and annoyed she looked. "There's no way in hell I'm taking a picture with you for the yearbook. They might as well just use the one from homecoming. No, scratch that. They should just use whoever was runner up. Thank God Stephanie is in charge of yearbook. I'm going to find out who nominated us and then kill them."

John shrugged. "First homecoming, now this? Maybe it's a sign-"

"It's a coincidence. A stupid terrible coincidence. It's so dumb. Just leave me alone."

John opened his mouth to reply to what Lita just said, but was cut short when Mr. Regal began class since the announcements were now over with. There were two presentations that occurred per day then the rest of the class would be spent with the teacher going over additional information about each unit which was presented that day. John and Lita's presentation was going to be the last one for the day which would begin during the beginning of the second half of class so they still had some time.

John and Lita's presentation about genetics went pretty well considering that they barely spent anytime working on it together, just exchanging emails every now and then. And the one time they finally worked on it together was cut short. But then it came time for the questions portion and that's when it all went down hill.

"Does anyone have any questions?" Lita asked when the duo were done with the PowerPoint presentation. A couple of hands popped up so Lita called on the first person she noticed had their hand up. "Christian?"

John snorted. "Of course you would pick him first. At least I'm not out there." It wasn't loud enough that the whole class could hear him, but Lita heard him clear.

Lita turned to look at her partner with a glare present on her face and Christian knew he wouldn't be able to ask his question about genes. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"You know exactly what that's supposed to mean."

Lita folded her arms over her chest and shook her head. "Actually, I don't so please enlighten me."

"Mr. Cena, Ms. Orton, I believe your classmates have questions for you," Mr. Regal said only to be ignored by the pair.

John smirked. "I'm pretty sure I already did babe."

Lita made a disgusted face when she knew what John was talking about. "That doesn't even make sense, you asshole."

"But you still knew what I meant."

"You are a disgusting pig."

"And yet you love a disgusting pig like me so what does that say about you?"

Lita scoffed. "You're delusional."

John opened his mouth to say something, but was cut the off by Mr. Regal who was now standing in front of the two instead of sitting in the back of the classroom and writing his notes. "Whatever you two are arguing about can wait for after class. Now get back on track and answer your classmates questions."

Both John and Lita didn't say anything so Mr. Regal was satisfied and went back to his seat after telling Christian to continue with whatever he was about to ask the duo up in the front.

"Can you go over the mutation of the genes and-" Christian began to ask only to be interrupted by John.

"I actually have a question for you, Mr. Regal," John said as Christian decided to stay quiet and decided he was just going to leave it now.

"What the hell is wrong with you Cena?" Lita whispered to her partner. "Just let these people ask their questions so we can get this over with."

John ignored her as he looked over at the teacher who seemed pretty irritated by the duo, but didn't say anything as the student asked his question. "Earlier in the year I asked you what hair color would the kid have if Red and I were to have one," Lita wanted nothing more than to just punch him right then and there and John could tell by the look on her face, but still continued, "and we got that answer, our kid-"

"Shut up you idiot!"

"-would most likely have brown. Now let's throw another guy in there. Let's say Red here was to cheat on me-"

"Will you just shut up," Lita interjected once more. "We're not even together that I would cheat on you."

"It's all hypothetical babe. Now be quiet so I can ask my question." He continued before Lita had a chance to say anything else. "Like I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, let's say Red cheats on me with someone with blonde hair and she gets pregnant-"

"Why are you even using me as an example?"

"Because you have red hair now stop cutting me off. So obviously if the kid had red hair, that screams paternity test, but can the kid still have blonde hair if it's mine? I have that recessive gene from my mom, maybe she does too."

"Don't answer that," Lita said to Mr. Regal who was about ready to tell the two to get to their seats now because their presentation was over. "I have a better question," she said before turning her attention to John and walking even closer to him, the two now facing one another with barely any space separating the two even though she was still talking to the teacher. "Is being an asshole genetics?"

"I have a better one, is being a tease genetics as well?"

"How the hell am I-"

"Oh you know how, babe."

"Am I the only one who feels uncomfortable watching this?" Victoria asked to no one in particular as the duo continued.

"Stop calling me that, you bastard!"

"That's enough," the irritated biology teacher said as he walked to the front of the classroom. That earned Mr. Regal the attention of his two students who kind of lost track of where they were. "Now get back to your seats because you two are done. I would like a word with both of you after class."

"This is all your fault Cena," Lita said as she went back to the lab bench with John taking his thumb drive out of the computer so he could do the same.

John rolled his eyes when he joined Lita at their seat. "All you Red."

"Just shut up."

With that said, it fell silent between the two with Mr. Regal continuing class. He decided to answer the questions the students had for the pair before he went into his own lesson about the topic of genetics. Of course he skipped both John and Lita's questions. Then after class was over with, Mr. Regal punished the duo by giving them detention, which the two teens were used to that year, and by telling thenm that he would lower their grade for their project by one letter grade when grading it since they didn't get to do the last portion.

* * *

The rest of the school day went by pretty smoothly until the last class of the day. The students were given a group assignment for the period and, just as assigned during the beginning of the school year, John and Lita were in a group along with Edge and Stephanie. The former couple managed to get themselves into another argument while they were supposed to be discussing ethics. Fortunately for the two, they weren't too loud and Coach Michaels was busy with another group so the two got away with their petty little argument.

Lita was just about to go into the classroom where detention was going to be held that afternoon when she heard someone call her name. She turned around to see Christian was towards her and she just knew what this was about.

"Hey," Lita smiled at the other teen who stopped when he was standing right in front of her.

"Is there still something going on between you and John?" Was the first thing that left Christian's mouth which caught Lita off guard eventhough she was expecting that. "I couldn't really hear what you two were talking about in the beginning earlier today, but then it just got really weird and I don't know."

Lita shook her head. "No way."

"You can tell me the truth Lita. If there's still something going on, like if there's still some feelings-"

"No. There's absolutely nothing going on. I can't stand him. He was just being a jerk like always, nothing new."

"So I had a good time on Saturday, if I were to ask you out again, then John wouldn't effect your answer?"

"No."

"So would you want to go to Stacy's party together on Saturday?"

Lita wanted to say no because she didn't want to lead her friend on anymore than she already did and there was no way she wanted to go to the blonde's party, but then she saw John a few feet away. "I'd love to," she smiled with Christian returning the gesture. "I have to go to detention now so I'll talk to you later." She was just about to walk away, but then she realized John's eyes were now on the pair so she quickly Christian on the cheek. "Bye." With that said, Lita walked inside of the classroom and took a seat at one of the desks.

It wasn't long after Lita entered detention that John joined her. The two were the only ones in the room for the moment so there were plenty of seats for John to choose from, but he still sat down next to the redhead.

Lita groaned when she saw John sitting right next to her. "Why can't you take a hint?" She asked, not bothering to get up from her seat.

"Oh I already got the hint," John began to say which earned him Lita's attention. "I had my suspicions, but now I'm one hundred percent sure you're using Christian to make me jealous."

Lita rolled her eyes. "Oh sweety, you're not important enough for me to make you jealous."

John chuckled. "Sure I'm not. That's the only reason why you went out with him. Why else would you have just kissed Christian like that after looking at me? Why else would you keep looking over at me during lunch when you're with him? " He didn't wait for Lita to give him an answer as he continued. "I know why," he began to say as he placed a hand on her, running his fingers up her thigh. "Because you're trying to get a reaction out of me."

Lita shook her head as she pushed John's hand off of her. "That's where you're wrong. And don't touch me again unless you want me to file a sexual harassment complaint against you."

"You wouldn't do that because that's exactly what you want me to do. You can't get enough of me. I can see it in your eyes. I don't blame you, I mean, once you go Cena, you don't go back."

The redhead rolled her eyes. "You're full of it."

John was satisfied with himself so he didn't say anything as he got up from the desk and moved to one of the empty ones. He could see how bothered Lita seemed to be so it wasn't a surprise to him when she asked Mr. Bischoff, who came to the room a few moments later, if she could go to the bathroom. Little did she know, someone else was going to join her.

Lita let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in when she got to the bathroom. She was surprised she was able to keep herself contained when John touched her thigh. He was right, she definitely wanted some more and him touching her even in the slightest didn't help her at all. And what the hell was wrong with her? She couldn't believe she was letting John effect her that way and she hated it.

"Miss me babe?" John asked after shutting the bathroom door and locking it which took Lita out of her thoughts and made her turn around and look at him.

"What the hell are you doing here? You don't have the parts to be in here unless there's something you want to tell me." John didn't say anything as he walked closer to her so she just began walking away so she could leave because she really didn't want to deal with him right now.

Unfortunately for Lita, John had other plans. He grabbed her by the arm amd turned her around so she was facing him before she could unlock the door, open it, and leave. Whatever she was about to say was cut short when John pushed her up against the wall as his lips came crashing down on hers. He pinned her hands against the wall, and pressed his whole body against hers so she couldn't move which made it hard for her to fight against him, but then she easily gave in which in turn made him loosen his hold on her.

John pulled apart a little after a while. "I've been wanting to do that since biology. You know you're extra hot when you're angry." Lita didn't say anything in return as she closed the gap between them and began kissing him once more.

Lita could feel John smirked against her lips and she just knew what he was about to say. "I knew you would come back for more."

"Shut up before I change my mind." And that was all it took for John to do as she said. And in that moment, Lita knew she was screwed.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. :)**


	29. Chapter 29

John looked around the vicinity when he arrived to Stacy's party the following Saturday evening. The brunette initially hadn't intended on showing up to the party like he told the blonde a couple of weeks ago, but he knew a certain redhead would be there so that was enough to change his mind. John didn't know what exactly was going on between him and Lita, but they were definitely seeing a lot of each other this past week.

The former couple was back on speaking terms all of a sudden even if their conversations were just them arguing over every little thing they could find. They had to take the picture for their cutest couple win for the yearbook on Wednesday which was filled with Lita yelling at John for being too close to her and him retorting that he thought she liked that kind of stuff. Of course that statement didn't sit well with the redhead and the duo ended up in a useless argument. Instead of going to their lunch period right after they were done taking the picture, both John and Lita found themselves occupied in John's car in a deserted area in the parking lot.

They even somehow managed to spend last night with one another with John waking up in Lita's room that morning and he was really questioning how he ended up spending the night. He didn't know what possessed him to pay her a visit in the first place. Sure, it was her birthday and he got her something that he wanted to give which he could have easily given to her earlier in the day at school, but, for some reason he didn't understand, he decided to go to her house. John was also questioning why Lita didn't just push him out of her window after he climbed up there which was something he did a couple of times when they were dating. He was just glad the lock on her doors worked otherwise he probably would have been dead even though most of John's time in Lita's room was spent with the duo simply sleeping. He was wondering why Lita didn't kick him out after they're inevitable hookup and why he didn't voluntarily leave himself.

John's eyes finally landed on Lita, but she wasn't alone. To no surprise of John's, the brunette found the redhead with her blonde friend or whatever Lita was calling Christian. John heard from Jeff who heard from Trish that this was apparently the duos second date and that was what influenced his decision of showing up to the party. If it was games Lita wanted, then it was games she would get.

Just as John was about to look for someone who could play the role Christian was playing for Lita for him, he was interrupted when Stacy randomly walked in front of him consequently stopping him in his tracks. And of the blonde teen wasn't alone. Right behind Stacy stood her little crew of Torrie and Candice.

Stacy smiled at John who looked like he rather be anywhere but with her at the moment. "I knew you would come here tonight."

John had to fight the urge to roll his eyes and surprised himself when he actually managed to do so. "Yea, well, gotta do something on a Saturday night, right?"

The blonde teen nodded. "Which is why me throwing a party tonight was such a great idea."

John simply nodded in response as he sneaked a look towards where Lita was. He noticed the redhead was staring at him and the blonde and she didn't look too happy about seeing the pair together. That's when an idea popped into John's head. Why not just use Stacy as his pawn? She was clearly still interested in him so he knew he would easily be able to reel her in. Maybe using Stacy wasn't a good idea for many reasons, but she was right in front of him and he was already getting a reaction out of Lita who John noticed moved closer to Christian which made the brunette rolled his eyes at the action.

John quickly looked away from his ex-girlfriend before Stacy could notice who he was looking at which would most likely ruin his plan. He smiled at the other teen before speaking. "You're right Stacy. Great party you have here. I'm glad I came." He had no opinion on the party because he had been there for no more than ten minutes, but he knew that compliment would please Stacy. "Plus, the company isn't that bad. You look great tonight, but that's not hard for you to pull off."

John hated how lame and cheesy he sounded, but he knew it would work no matter what he said and, just like he thought, Stacy was beaming with the two compliments he just gave her. He snuck another glance towards Lita and she looked even more disturbed than before as she tried to avoid looking at the duo. This was just so easy. John was glad that Stacy's little infatuation with him was finally working in his favor.

"Oh John, I'm so glad you're over your whole Lita phase," a smiling Stacy said as John turned his attention back to the blonde who was still ignorant to who he kept looking at. She laughed before continuing. "It was really pathetic how she thought you could fall for someone like her. And good touch with the whole love declaration thing. I really thought you were serious for a moment."

John had to bite his lip from telling Stacy that she was actually the pathetic one because his feelings for Lita were real while whatever he was doing with Stacy right now was just a way for the redhead to get a taste of her own medicine. He was sure Stacy would love to learn that he was merely using her as a way to make Lita jealous.

Before John had a chance to say anything, Stacy grabbed him by the arm. "Come on, let's dance. It's my party so you have to do as I say."

"My pleasure," was all John said as Stacy pulled him towards where some others were dancing.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Lita caught glimpse of her ex-boyfriend and her sworn enemy dancing with one another. She was so angry and disgusted by that sight. She couldn't hear the two of them since they weren't in earshot, but judging by both of their smiles and the fact that they were actually dancing with each other, Lita assumed John and Stacy were having a great time together.

"Are you okay?" Christian asked Lita who was taken out of her thoughts and turned her focus on him.

"What?"

"You seem out of it," a concerned blonde said to the redhead. "I've been taking to you and you seem out of it. Is everything okay?"

Lita nodded. "Yea. Just tired. I had work earlier and-" she stopped herself when she took a chance to look back at John and saw something more disturbing than the other teen dancing with Stacy.

John was kissing Stacy. He was actually kissing that blonde bitch. It wasn't like a quick kiss that Stacy caught him off guard with. No, it was way to long to be a quick simple kiss and John was actually kissing her back and seemed to be into it. Lita felt sick. She felt sick to her stomach.

The kiss finally ended and Lita's eyes met John's from across the room. She quickly looked away and got up from where she was sitting and walked away leaving a very confused Christian behind to wonder what just happened. He looked over to where Lita's gaze was previously fixed on to see John walking away from Stacy who was just as puzzled at him. But then it all seemed to become a little clear to Christian as to why Lita's mood suddenly changed a few minutes ago.

John knew he messed up the moment his and Lita's eyes locked. Lita initially looked pissed off and then she wasn't so angry anymore. She didn't even look hurt. She looked past hurt and he knew that wasn't good so he began to follow her hoping to do some damage control after she got up and walked away. He didn't even care or look back at Stacy who felt like she was owed an explanation as to why he left so abruptly after their kiss.

"Lita," John called after the redhead once he caught up to her. "Wait. Lita, stop," he said as he grabbed her arm only for his ex-girlfriend to yank her arm out of his hold before she turned around to face him.

"Don't touch me, bastard!" And now she was back to being angry. Lita's loud and angry voice attracted an unwanted audience for the duo. "I don't want to get any diseases you might have gotten from your whore!"

"Why are you so mad?" John asked even though he knew the answer to that. Maybe using Stacy of all people wasn't the smartest decision on his behalf because of the redhead and blonde's history, but he just didn't understand the level of Lita's anger because she was doing the same exact thing he was. He was about to say more, but Lita spoke before he could.

"You know what Cena? Just leave me the hell alone and go back to playing around with that bimbo! I really hope you knock her up!"

That did it, John finally had enough. Lita was really testing his patience and he was failing. "What the hell is wrong with you?! Why do you care what I do with anyone else?! It's none of your damn business because, in case you have forgotten, we broke up!"

"We never were together in the first place!" Lita threw back in his face. "It was all-"

"If it was all fake, then why do you care so much about what I do now and who I'm doing it with?!" John interjected when he knew where Lita was going with this because it wasn't like it would have been the first time he heard those words come out of her mouth when she spoke about their previous relationship.

Lita nodded, but John wasn't a fool and he knew that gesture didn't mean that she agreed with what he just said. "You're right. Then tell me why in the world you keep getting on my case about going out with someone!"

"You already know the answer to that," John replied, much calm than before. The duo still hadn't noticed the large group of people watching them listening to every single word they were saying because they were too engrossed in their argument even though both had a feeling they were being watched, but they didn't care much at the moment. No one mattered at the moment except the other person. Because they didn't notice the group surrounding them, they also didn't notice the two people who somehow got mixed into their mess. "Are you that much of a narcissist that you just want to hear me say it again? Fine, I'll say it because unlike you, I'm not afraid of admitting it. I-"

"Shut up!" Lita interjected before John could finish his statement. Unfortunately for her, he continued.

"I love you."

Lita didn't say anything for a moment. She hated the fact that John said those three words to her once again, but at the same time, she really didn't hate it at all. She wanted to hate those words coming out of his mouth, she wanted to hate him, but she couldn't no matter how hard she tried. What she did hate was how it felt like she had no control over her emotions when it came to him. "I told you not to say that to me ever again!"

John shrugged. "That's not my problem. It's not going to change how I feel. Hell, it's not going to change how you feel. You love me just as much as I love you."

Lita furiously shook her head. "No! That couldn't be any more further than the truth! Just stop talking! Stop trying to tell me how I feel! I already told you that I hate you and that's the truth! You're nothing but an annoying, idiot, arrogant, ignorant, self absorbed, jerk! And let's not forget the king of all jackasses so just shut up and leave me alone!"

John tried to keep his cool, but he didn't see a point to it anymore. She was really pissing him off now and if she didn't care that she kept yelling at him, then why should he? "Stop being so delusional Lita! If you hate me so much, then how come you spent your eighteenth birthday with me last night?! If we're not even friends, then how come you weren't with yours last night?! I mean, it was your eighteenth birthday on a Friday night so why weren't you out with them?! Why did you stay inside with me?!"

"I didn't invite you over," Lita began to say as calmly as possible, "you made that decision yourself."

"True," John nodded as he calmed down a bit to match the tone of the other teen. He was really sick and tired of the useless yelling and was glad she seemed to feel the same way. "But you also didn't tell me to leave either. I heard what you said when Trish came over to take you out when you made me hide in your bathroom and you said you weren't feeling well and you wanted to sleep so you didn't want to celebrate and you would take a rain check. You got rid of Randy so fast when he came to see how you were and if you changed your mind. I told you I would leave, but you said I didn't have to."

"That didn't mean I wanted you to stay."

John snorted and shook his head. "Sure it didn't. I was going to leave, but you told me I didn't have to. It's not like we even did much of anything. You chose to just be with me rather than do something with your friends. What do you think that means?"

"That, once again, you decided to stay on your own accord."

John groaned in frustration, but didn't say anything for the time being. He was trying to stop himself from blowing up at her so he needed time to collect himself. "Fine Lita. Fine. Don't admit that you wanted me to stay yesterday and you weren't bothered at all that I came. Don't admit that whatever you had going on with Christian was only a way to get me riled up. You look at me every now and then when you're with him and I'm around like you're making sure I'm paying attention to you. Don't admit that you love me. I don't need you to admit anything because I know all of that is true. I mean, you wouldn't lie to your best-friend, now would you?" Lita didn't have time to react to anything John just said as he continued. "You were so pissed off at me about the bet, but what you did is worse. I didn't care about you back then and I did what I did and I am sorry for that, but I'm done apologizing. What you did was much worse because you deliberately went out seeking some sort of revenge after I told you that I loved you. And not even that, you used your friend just to get back at me."

"But, you know what? I don't even care anymore. You're right, we're only in high school so what the hell do we know about love? I'll get over it. Maryland is a huge school," he said referring to the college they both would end up in the fall, "I'm sure we won't see each other much, if at all. I'll get over you, it shouldn't be too hard to do now." Lita could feel her heart break into peices once those words left John'said mouth. "By the way, nice necklace you got there," he said gesturing to the heart shaped peice of jewelry around her neck which he gave to her last night. "Why do you have something on which was given to you by someone that you hate?" With that said, John turned around so he could leave, but stopped when he finally realized what seemed like the whole party was surrounding the two. He turned back around to face Lita when he saw a certain someone watching them closely. "I'm sure your toy, backup, rebound, whatever, is done with you too."

Lita looked over to see who John was talking about even though she had a bad feeling about this. Sure enough, Christian was standing a few feet away and he didn't look to happy. The redhead looked away from the blonde before turning her attention to the brunette who began to walk away. "John-"

The other teen shook his head, not bothering to stop in place to hear what she had to say. "I'm done. I'm done with you."

Lita didn't have much time to react to what just happened as she watched John walk away when Christian showed up in front of her. She was trying so hard not to break down into tears right then and there. The duo simply stared at one another and Lita could tell her friend was angry and upset with her and she really did feel bad even though he was the least of her concerns for the time being.0

"Christian-" Lita began to say, not knowing what it was she was going to say in the first place. Fortunately, or maybe not so much, the blonde cut her off.

Christian shook his head. "No, I don't care what you have to say. I knew it. I knew there was still something going on with you and John. I asked you a couple of days ago and you said no. Had you just told me the truth when I asked you, then I wouldn't have been this angry with you. I wouldn't have felt this used. It would have been fine. I thought we were friends."

"We are."

"No, we're not," Christian shook his head. "Because friends don't do that to one another. Friends don't use other friends feelings as their advantage. John was right. Sure, he did bad, but you did worse than him." He was going to leave it at that, but there was something else that he needed and wanted to know. "Were you sleeping with him?"

"What?" A shocked Lita asked, not believing he would even ask her that question.

"Were you sleeping with John when you went out with me? Were you hooking up with him when I was under the impression that we were kind of sort of dating?" Lita was caught off guard by the question so she didn't answer right away. She opened her mouth to answer his question and of course she was going to lie because there was no way she was going to admit that to him especially since some people were still left behind to watch the rest of the show, but Christian continued. "You took too long to answer so I'm going to take that as a yes before you have a chance to lie to me." He shook his head and let out a humorless laugh before continuing. "Matt was right."

"And I never thought I would hear those words out loud," Edge could be heard saying from beside his friend. "This can't be good."

"You are a slut." Just like John before him, Christian walked away so he could leave the party he suddenly didn't want to be at anymore.

"And wow." Edge shook his head as he turned his attention to Lita. "I told you not to do it," he said before going after his friend.

Lita simply stood there as she tried to digest what just happened. She messed up big time and she knew it. She definitely didn't think this one through.

"Come on Li," Trish said when she showed up besides her friend after telling those around them that there was nothing left to watch so they would be better off going on their way. "Let's get out of here."

"Why would you tell him?" Lita asked, making no movement to do as the blonde said. Trish didn't have to ask her friend what she was talking about because she was pretty sure she knew. She opened her mouth to reply, but Lita continued. "I told you that in confidence so why would you tell him that?"

"Lita-"

"And then you told him about how I said I was having a weak moment and didn't mean it, right?" Lita said recalling the words John said to her earlier that week.

"I was just-"

"Oh my God," Lita said when something else came to mind. "It was you, wasn't it? You were the one behind the whole cutest couple bull shit, weren't you? It makes sense now.

"I was just trying to help you," Trish continued after the interruption only for Lita to repeat her actions once more.

"You're my best-friend Trish. I'm supposed to be able to tell you whatever I want without having to worry about you blabbing to the subject of our conversation. That wasn't your thing to tell him."

"You weren't going to and-"

"Still doesn't make it any of your business. You had not right to tell him any of that," was all Lita said as she left. She really needed to get out of there. She could feel people staring at her as she was leaving. She could hear their whispers and she knew they were talking about her. But she didn't care. She really didn't care at all what these people thought or said about her. There was only one person she absolutely cared about and she knew she probably damaged that beyond repair.

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	30. Chapter 30

Lita was mindlessly flipping through the pages in her notebook, not absorbing any of the information she was supposed to be studying. It was Friday evening and the AP exam for biology, and the other two classes she was taking, started on Monday and those weren't the only tests she had to worry about. She also had finals for three of her other classes and a final paper for one of them occurring the week after the AP exams and she had barely prepared for any of that that week.

The redheaded teen hadn't been feeling all that well the last few days and even stayed home from school that day after skipping the last two classes on Thursday. Of course Trish sent her a text message earlier accusing her of staying home due to the events that occurred at Stacy's party almost two weeks ago to which Lita argued it happened days ago and she could care less what people were still saying about her. There were just two more weeks that she actually had to go to school and she could say goodbye to high-school forever. Plus it wasn't like she would have to see any of those people again unless she wanted to and she couldn't wait.

Lita let out a long tired sigh as she closed her notebook when she decided she wasn't going to get any studying done at the moment so there was no point in trying. She placed her books down on her desk in her room before heading over to her bed and taking a seat, leaning back against her headboard. The redhead picked up her phone from her night table and was pretty relieved, and kind of happy, to see she received a text message from Christian. That is until she read what he had to say: _Stop disturbing me. I'm pretty sure harassing someone is a crime._

She spent some of the last two weeks trying to get Christian to talk to her so she could apologize because she felt really bad for how she dragged him in the middle of her mess and totally gave him the wrong impression that she was interested in him when she wasn't, but he clearly wanted no part of it. The redhead tried talking to the blonde at school, but he would just walk away from her after pretending he didn't notice someone was talking to him. Christian wouldn't answer any of Lita's calls or even respond to her text messages either. He was avoiding her like the plague and Lita couldn't say she blamed him one bit at all because, in ways, it was like how she was in her situation with John. But now, the shoe was on the other foot and John barely said a word to Lita. She really didn't understand how everything got so screwed up quickly.

Lita rolled her eyes when she heard her door open and then close when someone entered it. "I'm alone," she began to say after deciding she wouldn't reply to Christian's message and just leave him alone for a while, "I'm not hiding anyone in here so you can just leave without doing some lame assume inspection. I swear, I'm going to kick your ass one of these days."

"But I just got here," a voice Lita wasn't expecting said as the owner sat down next to her friend.

Lita didn't have to look up to see the voice belonged to Trish who was making herself very comfortable on her friends bed. "Oh," she began to say as she turned her attention to the other teen, "I thought you were Randy. He's driving me crazy and I just want to punch him."

Trish looked very confused and lost as to what Lita was talking about. Of course it wasn't something new that her friend had some violent thoughts towards her brother, but she did want to know what this was about. "Why would he come in your room and inspect the place like you said?" Lita opened her mouth to answer, but she didn't have to when it suddenly hit the blonde. "Oh. You did say you were alone. This have something to do with how John admitted he snuck into your room and like spent basically the whole night in here?" Lita simply nodded. "Well, that's crazy that he thinks John would even be back in here after everything that happened. I mean, he looked so pissed off and he's still pretty angry. Tell Randy he has no reason to be concerned."

Lita scowled. "Shut up."

Trish shrugged. "What? I'm only speaking the truth."

"Well, it's not appreciated."

"Are they both still ignoring you?" Trish asked.

Lita nodded. "Yup, Christian just sent me a text saying to leave him alone and that I was harassing him. I think he was implicating that he would call the cops on me if I didn't stop calling him or texting him."

"Ouch. He's acting a little too dramatic, isn't he? Well, I guess it is warranted in a way because you really did him wrong." The scowl was back on Lita's face so Trish continued. "Again, I only speak the truth."

"You're really annoying me. Why are you even here? You know I'm still kind of mad at you for telling John about our private conversations."

Trish shrugged. "Yet you forgave me like the next day so I don't care. You know you can't live without me. Like I said, it had to be done. Anyways, are things getting better with John?"

The redhead shook her head. "Not at all. Honestly, I don't know what I would say if he was even talking to me. Like I say hi to him every now and then, but, unless it's an assignment we have to talk about in philosophy, he won't say anything back. Come to think of it, he won't really talk to me then either. He talks more so to Edge and Stephanie. But I guess you can say we're making progress in a way because I asked him how he was and he said 'just fucking peachy.' Kinda moving in the right direction, huh?"

Trish couldn't help but laugh at what her friend just said and of course Lita didn't take so kindly to it, but she didn't say anything. "You're so delusional, it's cute and sad at the same time. Oh, sweetie, not at all," she said finally answering the other teens questions even though she wasn't looking for one. "You broke his heart so he's obviously upset. You set out to get back at him after he told you that he loved you and, I'm not saying what he did was less horrible than what you did, but you were straight out dirty. "

Lita interrupted before Trish could get any further. "I'm going to literally kick you out of my room if you say that stupid shit about only speaking the truth once again."

"Someone's very feisty today."

Lita sighed. "Trish, I really don't know what to do. It would just be really easy to ignore everything and just move on because we're practically done with high school, but-"

"You don't want to because you love him," the blonde finished for her best-friend before adding her own opinion afterwards. "And that whole only being in high school and age crap doesn't matter because you don't want to regret giving the relationship an actual chance because you're afraid of getting hurt again."

"I don't know about all of that."

"Lita-"

"Look, I don't know, okay? Just... I don't... I don't know."

It was quiet between the two friends before the younger of the two spoke up. "Look Li, I really know what you can do to fix all of this with John, but start from the beginning. Just tell him how you felt when you found out about the bet even though I'm pretty sure he has an idea. Then say something like you never meant to hurt him that way-"

"Well, I wanted to do the same thing he did to me," Lita cut her off. "I wanted him to feel the same way he made me feel. Or at least that's what I thought I wanted."

Trish nodded. "Maybe you can tell him that too. Like, don't blame him for what you did, but... like... I don't know. Just let him know that you messed up and made a mistake."

"I guess I know what I want to say to him, I just don't know how to say it. He's not talking to me so he's not going to even listen to me. And I don't want an audience for yet another conversation with him."

"Just sneak inside his car and start talking away when he gets in. Brooke snuck into Lucas' car and then in Owen's car years later so it can be done."

Lita rolled her eyes when she realized Trish was referring to a show on television. "This isn't a TV show Trish, this is real life."

"Doesn't mean you can't use one of their tricks," was all Trish replied with as it fell quiet between the two friends.

"I told him I would help him study for forensics and we always study for bio together," Lita said after a while. "Maybe he still wants to."

Trish snorted. "I highly doubt it."

"Well, maybe you're wrong," Lita said as she grabbed her phone and began to text John. "If he says yes, I can just use this as my opportunity to apologize and try to get him to see this from my side."

"What are you going to say?"

Lita shrugged as she hit the send button on her phone. "I don't know."

It once again became silent between the two as Lita began to think about the possible ways she could even bring up the topic if John agreed to study with her while Trish's mind began to wander to the rumor spreading all around school that day.

"So are you feeling better?"

Lita nodded. "Mhm."

"That's good. So what's wrong with you? Or what was wrong with you, I guess?"

"Just, you know, my immune system sucks."

"Is that all?"

Lita looked up from her phone after checking whether or not her ex-boyfriend replied to her message. She arched a brow before speaking. "What are you going to?"

Trish shook her head. "Nothing, I'm just-"

Lita snorted. "Cut the bullshit Stratus. Just ask what you want to know."

"You know what I want to ask."

"So?" Lita shrugged. "I can't be too sure until you ask, now can I?"

Trish took a deep breath before revealing the rumor that was spreading about her friend at school. "So someone- probably Stacy- started a rumor about you today. Based on the fact that you missed two and a halfish days of school the last few days and you haven't been feeling well-"

"Get to the point."

"Basically, it's going around school that you're pregnant and you stayed at home today so you could take care of your problem."

Ltd didn't say anything in response as she looked down at her phone to see that John still hadn't replied to her. She shook her head when she realized how crazy she was behaving, checking her phone over and over again after she just sent him the message like not even five minutes ago. "What do you think?" Lita asked as she looked back up at Trish.

"What?"

"Do you think there's any truth to the rumors?"

Trish didn't say anything for a while because she was very confused as to why Lita was asking her that question in the first place. "Um, I don't know."

"Well, I'm not pregnant so you don't have to be so concerned for me. I'm not stupid, I know how to protect myself from making a mistake like that. I've been on the pill for like three years."

"When you were like fourteen?"

"Fifteen," Lita corrected her friend. "Mother nature's been a real bitch to me so my doctor recommended it and my mom signed off on it. Duh, can't get it without a parent at that age."

"Okay, but there's still always a chance even if it's a slim chance."

"I know, but not for me. I don't have a bun in the oven."

"Okay, but how do you know?"

"Because I just do."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I just am."

"Okay, I think you should at least take a test. I mean, there are some things pointing towards it."

Lita rolled her eyes. "What? The fact that I've been sick? People get sick all the time."

"As true as that may be, I still think you should take a test."

The redhead shook her head. "I'll pass. No pun intended."

"I get you're afraid, but don't you want to know? Like you need answers so I guess you can know what needs to be done. Or doesn't need to be done."

"I'm not afraid because I already know I'm kid free."

"Lita, you know I'm always going to be here for you no matter what."

"Oh my God Trish!" Lita shouted when she had enough of her well meaning friends pestering. "I already took multiple tests so I don't need to take any! So just shut up!"

"Wait, you thought-"

"Yes, okay? Yes. It crossed my mind for a brief moment so I went to the drug store like in Glen Burnie because I know no one would know me there and they all came back negative. I even went to my doctor after my mom kept pushing me. I mean, I didn't tell her anything because I took the tests before hand."

"Really?" Lita nodded and Trish let out a sigh of relief. "Okay, good. That's so great to hear. Then what the hell is wrong with you?"

"Just stress with the end of high school, beginning of college, beginning of life, and... everything else. Basically, I'm making myself sick for no reason."

"Well, this calls for a girls night out. It's Friday and it's not like we have school to worry about. I'll call-"

"No. That's the last thing I need. That's only going to make me feel more stressed about less studying time."

"You'll be fine. And I'm sure it's not all about school."

"I know." Lita was about to say more, but stopped herself when she noticed the light on her phone was blinking which could possibly mean she received an answer about studying together from John. She took a deep breath before picking up on her phone and turning it on. Soon enough, she saw that her phone was blinking because John did send her a message. Three actually. "He said yes," Lita said after she read her messages. "Actually, he said no because he didn't need my help, but then he said he changed his mind because he could use some help for biology and his chances at a college credit shouldn't suffer just because I'm a cold-hearted bitch."

"Ouch. That one's gotta sting. Lita, I'm-"

"It's whatever," Lita shrugged it off after she messaged John that she would see him tomorrow. "I'm going to talk to him tomorrow and it'll be fine," she said even though she didn't believe anything that left her mouth. She just hoped it would turn out to be true.

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**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Special thanks to Bajor10, Wolfgirl2013, RedMary4, my time is now, Cena's baby doll, tatterbug3, therealchamps, GlassCeiling, and kay. Hope you liked the chapter. Let me know kw what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	31. Chapter 31

John was really beginning to regret agreeing to study for the biology exam with Lita like they originally planned. The redheaded teen had been at his house for an hour, yet the brunette hadn't said even one word to his ex-girlfriend. John didn't even say a word to Lita when he opened the door and led her to the family room where they were currently studying. For her part, Lita actually greeted John and almost didn't even get the nod she received in response. That little gesture was progress in her mind even though she knew things were far from being anywhere near fixed with them.

John let out a sigh as he looked up from the notes in front of him. He was getting sick and tired of studying biology and was glad it was almost over with. He had to question why he signed up for the class in the first place, it wasn't like he was a fan of biology or any type of science for that matter. The class hadn't been that bad this year, but he was just over the subject. He was actually just over school as a whole. Truth be told, the only reason John was going to give this whole college thing a try was because his mom guilted him in doing so. It wasn't like you needed a college degree to become a firefighter.

The brunette teen took the moment to look across the table from him and saw the redhead jotting down some stuff in her notebook. One good thing about having Lita to study with- even though he was still upset with her- was her notes. Even though the duo was completely silent for the last hour, Lita shared her notes with John who was actually able to comprehend some of the information he was previously having difficulty with. There were some things John knew he could use some additional explanation on, but he really didn't feel like talking to Lita at all which made him question yet again as to why he just didn't ignore her text the evening before.

Lita was going over the study guide Mr. Regal distributed in class a week ago when she felt like her eyes and brain needed a break from looking at the same thing over and over again. The teen looked up from her notebook and the first thing she noticed was that John had his eyes on her. And of course he looked right back down in front of him when he realized he had just gotten caught staring at her.

The redheaded teen sighed as she looked over at the clock in the room and noticed it had been only one hour since she had gotten there and yet, she made no progress in talking to John. Like she told Trish the evening before, she really didn't know what she would say to him. Lita didn't even know how and when to bring up the conversation, it was going to be pretty random. She did feel terrible for what she did and how it clearly effected John negatively, but she was still pretty angry at him for that stupid bet and that was something Lita didn't see herself forgetting anytime soon.

Lita looked back over at John who she could tell was trying really hard to focus on the notes in front of him and not slip up and look back at her. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, _this is so ridiculous. Just get it over with. What's the worst he can say? There's nothing worse than what he said at the party. And whose fault is that? Shut up. Oh God, now I'm going crazy. I blame him._

The teen opened her mouth to say something, but no words left so she closed it back up again. Maybe she could pretend she needed help on something and the duo could fall into conversation about whatever topic she could come up with and then gradually change it about them? _Eh, stupid, but it could work._

"What's the difference between meisos and mitosis?" Lita randomly asked which earned her John's attention.

"Are you testing me, because I don't need-"

Lita shook her head as she cut off John. "No, I always get them confused. Like which one involves one cell division? Which one involves two? Which was results in two daughter cells? Which one results in four?"

The brunette simply stated at the redhead for a moment, but didn't say anything as he grabbed a packet from his book bag and handed it to her. He knew the answers to her questions, but there was another way she could find out the answers. "Should be on here," he said in reference to the various pages he just placed in front of her. "Mr. Regal gave out the answers to the study guide yesterday and I thought you could use it so I got you a copy."

Lita nodded as she picked up the answered questions on the study guide and looked through it. This wasn't the first time she saw the answered study guide because she already had a copy of the answers from when Victoria brought it over to her last night. "Thanks."

"Whatever."

_Well, that went great. What else... _"Do you have a trick?" Lita asked, not wanting to give up. She continued after she saw the confused look John was sending her way. "I always get the two processes confused, so do you have a trick that helps you? Like a, um, song or uh poem or um something? A riddle?"

"No," was all John said as he returned his attention back to the books in front of him.

_And that is how you fail at something. Just get it over with, he's clearly not falling for the bullshit trap. _"Why am I here?"

"What?" John asked, turning his attention back to his ex-girlfriend.

"Why am I here?" Lita repeated. "Why am I at your houe, John? Why are we studying together even though we're not really doing that? It's like we're doing our own thing. I mean, I could have just stayed at home and done the same thing in my sweats rather than try and look half decent and come here."

"No one told you to come to my house," came John's simply response as he tried to continue studying, but Lita clearly wasn't going to let this go soon.

Lita scoffed. He was really irking her nerves with his simple replies. "Are you kidding me? I still have the texts to prove-"

"You asked me if I still wanted to study with you and I said yes so that's what we're doing. I just don't have any questions at this moment so yea, we don't need to talk."

"Okay, but I asked you a question and you referred me to the study guide. If we were just going to basically study on our own, then I could have just stayed in the comfort of my room."

John shook his head as he took out his own copy of the study guide answers and flipped to a particular page which the teacher used as an example of how they should write during the short essay portions of the AP exam. "You don't need help with the difference of meiosis and mitosis. Some of the answers that Mr. Regal used on the study guide came from tests and papers throughout this year. Guess whose essay he used for answering your question in detail?"

"It could be anyone's."

Once again, the other teen shook his head. "No. For the students answers he used, he wrote down their name, gave them credit for it."

_Shit. _"It could jut be a mistake. He probably meant to write someone else's name and got confused."

"Highly doubt it," was all John said before it became silent between the two once again. This was going to be much harder than Lita thought. Maybe she should just get right to the point instead of dancing around it.

"I don't get why you're mad at me when you did something far worse and that was the only reason I did what I did," Lita said before she could even stop the words from leaving her mouth. _Okay, seriously asshole? That's not something you say when you're kinda sorta trying to apologize. But it is the truth so who cares. _She was about to say more only for John to interrupt.

"How can I be mad at something someone did when I don't care about that person?" Lita didn't say anything in response so John continued. "As far as which one of us did the other worse, that's debatable and you already know my reasons so I'm not going to get into that. And you know you're wrong."

"You were paid to be my friend, to go out with me, and to sleep with me. You-"

"First of all," John began to say before Lita could finish whatever it was she was about to say, "I was only paid to be your friend, I called off the whole thing before it could get anywhere else. And, you know what? That doesn't count either because I gave Chris the money back."

"That doesn't matter because you still did it. Maybe you did call off the bet a couple of months ago, but you never told me and you just went on ahead with our relationship like it didn't start off like a game."

John nodded and Lita knew it wasn't because he agreed with her. "You're right. But, like I already told you, I didn't care about you back then so I didn't think it was a big deal. And I still don't. We weren't friends, but I called off the bet when we were starting to be actual friends and that's the difference between me and you. You deliberately went out seeking some sort of revenge after I told you that I loved you. You know how I felt about you, but you still went ahead and purposely messed around with Christian in front of me."

"And you kissed Stacy. Don't try and tell me that wasn't because of my thing with Christian. You were doing the same thing."

John didn't say anything for a moment as the duo simply stared at one another. He shrugged before speaking up. "Yea well, you told me that you hate me so why does that matter? Why does any of this matter? Why do care whether or not I'm angry with you? Why does it matter? It doesn't. I'm over this. I already told you I'm done with all this crap so I don't know why we're even talking about this." He didn't wait for Lita to say anything as he got up from his seat. "I don't feel like studying anymore right now so you should leave."

"It does matter," came Lita's quiet response before John could presumably go up to his room. It was like dejavu, only the roles were reversed.

John stopped in his tracks and turned around to face Lita who was looking down at the table in front of her. "Why?"

Lita looked up to face John before answering his question. "It just does."

John shook his head. "Like you told me before, that's not a good enough reason."

"John-"

"My name isn't a reason either."

"You're right, I purposely wanted to hurt you and I'm sorry for that. I wanted to make you jealous and have you feel the same way I felt when I found out about the bet. I thought it would make me feel better, but it really didn't. Not even a little. Well, maybe a little but that was before the party and... like... I don't know. I'm just... I screwed up and I'm sorry."

John didn't say anything right away, instead opting to look a way for a moment as he thought about what Lita just said. He shook his head as he looked back over at Lita. "That doesn't answer my question." He was about to leave once again, but that's when he remembered something that he heard at school yesterday. "There were rumors going around school-"

"Not true," Lita said before John could finish his question.

"Great. I wouldn't want to be stuck with you for the rest of my life one way or another." With that, he walked away leaving Lita behind by herself.

"Exactly how I planned," Lita sarcastically muttered under her breath as she gathered her books and put them in her bag so she could get out of there. That was such a fail. It would just be really easy to ignore everything and just move on, but, like she told Trish, that wasn't something she wanted.

* * *

**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Let me know what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	32. Chapter 32

"Oh God," Lita groaned as she sat down on one of the seats in the library and dropped her head on the table in front of her. "Are we done yet?" It was Monday afternoon and she, along with most of her fellow biology classmates, had just gotten done taking the AP exam which was held in the library. The test had just finished a few minutes ago and there was still some time left before the next class started so they were kept in the library until then.

Victoria rolled her eyes after she heard that question for what felt like the billionth time that day. She grabbed a seat next to her friend and placed her bookbag on the empty seat next to her. "This was only the first one. We still have two left. And let's not forgot all of the other fun crap we have to get done."

"No," Lita whined as she lifted her head from the table and looked up at her friend. "Don't remind me. I hate this time of the year. I hate school."

"Look on the bright side, at least there's only one more week left after this one."

"It's only Monday."

"Bright side Li, we're still almost done."

Lita shrugged. "It doesn't make me hate school any less." She paused for a brief moment as she looked over at the clock hanging in the library before looking back over at Victoria and continuing again. "My brain is too tired and I cannot read time. We really need to get our phones back now. Do you think I have enough time for a nap?"

Victoria raised a browser. "Did you not get your stuff back? We're allowed to yet it back now. How else do you think I have my bag?"

"I didn't know you had your stuff back, I'm not paying attention to you."

"Well, you can go get yours from whatever that dude said his name was," Victoria said gesturing to the teacher who was proctoring their exam. "He's still standing there. But I don't think we actually need to get it from him. It's all on the side right next to him."

The redhead looked over to where the man was standing a few feet away before she shook her head and returned her attention to her friend. "Too far. I'll just get my bag when we're able to leave from here. Just answer my question. Do I have time for a nap or no?"

Victoria shook her head as she finally decided to answer the other teens question. "We only have like fifteen minutes before sixth period."

"Why can't we just go home? Why do we have to go to class? This is such a waste of time. We go to sixth period, we go to lunch, then seventh period, then home. They need to let us skip all that extra stuff so we can go home. I believe we have already been through enough torture."

"We both have English next which is what our next AP exam is for tomorrow. I think it would be best if we didn't miss the class. We'll probably just go over some questions everyone has for tomorrow."

"I know," Lita nodded, "but my brain hurts. I can't take anymore school for today."

"Get over it."

Lita didn't say anything in response as she looked around the library instead. She noticed that there were some students, like her and Victoria, who were just sitting around and conversing with one another while there were others who were looking at the different book selections on the bookshelves. Lita felt like she would fall asleep if she just sat there and she would be even more cranky if she got like a five minute nap so she knew she had to get up and move around.

"I'm gonna go check out some books," the teen announced as she got up from her seat with her friend simply nodding in response.

The redhead walked over to the section in the library which held the collection of mystery books. It wasn't like she was planning on actually checking out a book because there was no way she had time to read anything during the last two weeks of high school, but maybe she would just checkout the books she was interested in reading from the public library or even purchase them once she was done with the school year. Lita began mentally noting some of the titles of the books which she thought could come in handy during the road trip her and her friends were planning to take after graduation. She knew she would need some sort of break from that insanity.

Lita turned around when she heard the proctor announce they had about seven more minutes left until they were able to leave the library and join the school for the rest of the school day. She turned back around and placed the book that was currently in her hand back in its spot on the shelf when she thought it was about time she retrieved her bag from the front of the library. Once that was done, the teen began to walk to the front of the library, but didn't make it too far when she bumped into someone. She wasn't paying much attention to where she was walking and she was pretty sure the other individual wasn't as well. She was caught off guard and it was like she didn't know what balance was anymore. Lita was pretty sure that she would have fell if it weren't for the other person grabbing a hold of her before that could happen.

"Thanks." Lita said as she looked up to see who helped her. "Oh," was all she said when she saw the other student she knocked into was John. She felt really awkward as the two simply stood there, staring at one another. The brunette teen was back to completely ignoring the redhead ever since their study session two days ago. Maybe there was something she could do to change that. "Hey." Or not. John walked away from lita once that greeting left her mouth. "Surprise surprise," she muttered under her breath as she shook her head at his retreating form.

The high school senior was about to continue her short walk to the front of the library so she could finally get her bag and then hopefully it would be time to leave, but she stopped when she saw another someone who she was trying to make amends with sitting at one of the tables a few feet away from her. Maybe Lita would have been better off just leaving Christian alone like he wanted, but that's not what she wanted. She was really frustrated with both guys ignoring her and she wasn't going to have anymore of it. One of them was going to listen to her and she was going to fix her mess with at least one of them.

"Hey," Lita smiled once she stopped by where Christian was seated. The other teen simply glanced at her for a brief moment before shaking his head and looking back down at the magazine he was currently looking through when he saw who just spoke to him.

_At least he's alone_, Lita thought to herself as she sat down on the empty chair right next to him. She really didn't know how to start the conversation so she just said the first thing that came to mind. "How do you think you did on the test?" She wasn't phased by the nonexistent response she received by the blonde as he continued to look through the magazine as if someone wasn't talking to him. "It was definitely easier than what I was preparing myself for, but then again, it wasn't. Like, it was easier than I thought, but it was definitely hard. Sometimes I have to wonder what possessed me to take this class. I mean, I hate science, but I guess it's worth if I get at least a three on the test then I won't have to take a science class during undergrad. Now that would be great."

Lita paused for a moment and Christian still didn't say anything as he looked up at the clock across the room, there were still a couple of minutes kept until the bell rang, before continuing to look back down at the magazine in front of him.

"So what are you looking at there?" The redhead asked as she took a glimpse at the magazine the blonde seemed to be interested. "Oh, Sports Illustrated. That reminds me, how was basketball season? I went to two games and you won one and lost one so that doesn't really give much away. I heard the team did okay, but-"

"What do you want?" Christian finally had enough as he looked towards Lita and interrupted her from saying any more.

"Um, I just wanted to talk."

"Right. Well, clearly you didn't come here to ask me about the test or about basketball and I know you're not going to leave me alone until you say what it is that you want to say, so what do you want? You have until the bell rings."

Lita looked across the room at the clock and realized there were only three or four minutes until the first bell rang indicating it was end of the class period and time for the next. "The first or the sec-"

"The first," the blonde cut the redhead off.

"Okay," Lita nodded right before getting into what she had wanted to say to him ever since everything that went down at the party. "I'm sorry. I'm really really sorry for dragging you into my mess with... with him. I never meant for any of that to happen. I didn't know what I was thinking. I screwed up big time and I really truly do feel terrible. I'm-"

"Why did you even agree to go out with me in the first place?" Christian interrupted Lita who didn't say anything right away. "If you're not going to answer my questions, then I think we're done here." He was about to get up from there so he could leave, but stopped when the other teen spoke up.

"No," Lita shook her head. You're my friend and you asked me out on a date and I didn't think there would be any harm in accepting and going out with you. I was just giving you a chance because, like I said, we're friends and I do like you as a friend so why not?"

Christian nodded. "Okay. Say that I actually buy that, why did you agree to go on a second date when you clearly weren't over John?"

Lita scoffed. "I am over him."

"And I'll just be leaving now if you're just going to lie to me."

"Christian, I really don't give a damn about that asshole-"

"Again," the blonde teen said as he stood up, "I think we're done here if you're just going to lie to me."

"Okay fine," Lita sighed as Christian once again took his seat. "I did just want to give you a chance because you're my friend the first time you asked. And I did have a good time with you, but... honestly, just as friends. It was just awkward and weird putting that whole date label on the whole thing because I'm just not going to see you more than just a friend. I'm sorry, but that's the truth."

The blonde waited for the redhead to continue, but she didn't so he spoke up. "Then why would you agree to go out on a second date?" Lita stayed quiet and looked away, not wanting to answer that question. "You claim that we're friends, so why can't you just be honest with me?"

"I... I... I was ready to say 'no', but John was standing a few feet away," Lita admitted looking back over at her friend.

"So why should I believe that he didn't effect your answer the first time?"

"Because he didn't. Well, not totally," Lita said when she thought she might as well just tell him the whole truth now. "Like I said, I thought I would just give you a chance. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't thinking about him even the tiniest bit when you called that day. I just wanted to make him feel the way he made me feel. I was consumed in wanting to get him back that I wasn't thinking about how this could negatively effect you. I screwed up big time. You're my friend and I hate that I involved you. I would take it all back if I could, but I can't and the only thing I can do now is just tell you how truly sorry I am."

Christian didn't say anything for a moment and Lita had a bad feeling about this. She was almost convinced he was going to laugh in her face and call her a slut again. Fortunately for her that didn't happen. But what he did say wasn't really much better.

"Okay."

Lita was confused. After all of that, all Christian had to say was 'okay'? She didn't know what she thought he would say, but 'okay'? Like what did that even mean? Did he actually accept her apology or did he not care what she just said. "Um, what do you mean 'okay'? Like are you still mad or does okay mean like we're okay now?"

Christian shrugged. "I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"What I mean is that I don't know. What you did was a shitty thing and I guess I kinda am still sorta mad at you because even though I already knew it, you just admitted you used me."

"Christian-"

"But I can see myself getting over it. You do seem to feel remorseful."

"I am. I really am."

"I know," Christian nodded as he got up from where he was sitting and grabbed his bag when the bell finally rang. "Well, that's the bell, I guess I'll be seeing you around." With that said, the blonde left.

_Well, that wasn't all that bad,_ Lita thought to herself even though that wasn't totally the result she was hoping her. At least Christian didn't shut her out completely and she liked to think that that was more than half fixed.

The teen got up from the table and walked towards the front of her library where her bag laid unattended on the floor so she could finally reclaim it. As Lita walked across the room, she noticed John wasn't too far ahead of her. She was just going to leave him alone because she knew he didn't want to talk to her especially after their run in a few minutes ago, but something overcame her. The fact that she was semi successful with Christian made her think she could possibly do the same with John.

"Hey John," Lita called after her ex-boyfriend when she was able to get a little closer to him. The other teen paused for a moment, but then continued walking when he realized it was Lita who was talking to him.

Fortunately for Lita, she was able to close the distance between the two of them even more when he stopped for a moment so she grabbed is arm as a way to stop him in place. John turned around with a scowl present on his face as he yanked his arm out of her hold. "Are you that dense that you can't take a hint? What the hell do you want?"

"Um, I just... I just want to talk to you," Lita answered hesitantly like she was unsure of herself.

"About what Lita?"

Lita shrugged. "I don't know," which kind of was the truth because even though she did just want to restart their white conversation from Saturday didn't meant she wanted to do that at school and she really didn't know why she just approached him.

John rolled his eyes. "Of course." He was just about to turn around and walk away, but stopped when Lita spoke up.

"Why won't you talk to me?"

"There is nothing to talk about."

"Yes there is," Lita insisted. "If you would just listen to what I have to say-"

"And why would I do that? You sure as hell didn't want to do the same for me when I tried talking to you. And, you know what? Just forget that. That doesn't even matter. Kind of like what you have to say. I don't care. Like I told you multiple times before, I'm over it. I don't care about you, I don't care what you have to say, I just don't give a damn." With that said, John began to walk away.

"Please John, just-"

The teen shook his head, not bothering to stop in place to hear what the other teen had to say. "The bell already rang and I'm not risking being late and getting detention for you. Sure as hell don't want to be stuck in there its you again," John said before disappearing.

Lita didn't have any time to react to what just happened between her and John when the librarian walked up to her and told her it was time to get to class. The redhead didn't say anything in response as she finally grabbed her bag from off the ground and began walking to her next class with Victoria by her side.

"Are you okay?" Victoria asked as the duo walked to English class. The teen didn't know what was said between her friend and John and even Christian, but she could tell the last conversation didn't end so well especially with how upset her friend looked.

"I don't want to talk about it," came Lita's quiet response.

"Okay, but-"

"I don't want to talk about it," the redhead repeated and the raven haired teen decided to just leave the topic alone. At least for now. Maybe she would just tell Trish what she saw because she knew the blonde would have a better shot at talking to Lita.

* * *

Lita wasn't paying much attention to anything her friends were talking about an hour later at lunch. When she got to the usual table her and her friends occupied, she was pretty surprised to see that Christian was there as well, right next to Edge. He had avoided sitting at their regular lunch table the last couple of weeks, but he was actually there today and she knew it had a lot to do with their conversation in the library earlier that day. Lita was convinced that they were moving in the right direction and she was just one more step closer to completely healing that relationship. But, truth be told, that really wasn't the relationship she cared about the most.

Lita let out a sigh as she looked over a few tables away where she knew John was sitting at with some of his friends. Just like her, he didn't seem so invested in whatever his friends were conversing about. And just like the other times she looked over at him during the lunch period, he seemed to be in his own little world, not worrying about what was going on around him which made it so easy for her to sneak a few glances every now and then.

"Hello? Earth to Lita," the redhead snapped out of it when she saw a hand being waved in front of her face. She looked over at her blonde friend who was sitting down on the right side of her. "Did you hear anything I just said?" Trish asked as she looked over to see what, or who, her friend was distracted by. She rolled her eyes when she saw John before looking back over at Lita whose attention was now on her. "Of course you weren't," she muttered under her breath.

"You were talking about prom," Lita correctly assumed because that was all Trish and some of the other girls would talk about lately.

"Lucky guess. And we were actually talking about dresses. Victoria already has hers, but me and Stephanie were going to give it one more go on Wednesday before me made our final decision. You still haven't went even once to shop around so you are going to come with us. Prom is around the corner and you need a kickass dress before they're all gone."

"Why?" Lita questioned. "I already told you before that I'm not going. I don't see a need to go to prom. And if I'm not going, then I don't need to waste money on a dress I'm never going to wear."

Trish sighed and shook her head. "I already told you that skipping out on prom is not an option."

"Well I don't want to go so it is an option for me."

"Why don't you want to go?" Trish asked as the other occupants decided they were definitely going to stay out of this one "It's like a rite of passage. Screw that, you're going. I'll just pick out a dress for you because I know how much you don't like shopping for dresses."

"I'm not going."

Trish nodded. "Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"Lita-"

"I'm not going and you don't get to make that choice for me!" Lita exclaimed as she stood up. If the blonde was surprised by that little outburst from her friend, then she was in for a shock by what was coming. The few tables nearby became quiet as they all turned their attention to the commotion. "Why the hell would I want to go to some overhyped lame ass party?! Newsflash: I rather not be stuck in a room with a bunch of assholes I really don't like! Prom is just an excuse for the class to get together one last time before graduation and before we all go our separate ways! Well guess what?! I'm pretty sure I'll live if I never see any of these people ever again! If I want to, then I will find a way to hook up! Prom is just an excuse for a lame party! I rather not put myself in misery for a few hours, but thank you for that option!" She pulled her car keys out of her bag before before grabbing the bag off from the table and leaving.

No one at the table said anything as they all glanced at one another once the redhead was out of sight. None of them knew what to say or do, but they each knew going after Lita and trying to talk to her wouldn't do anything so that wasn't an option.

Trish looked over to where John was previously sitting to see he too had disappeared. She knew he was watching and listening to everything that just happened because she did glance towards him at least once, she just didn't see when he left. Trish did tell Lita she would stay out of her issues with John and not butt in in any way, but she knew how upset her best-friend was and she couldn't just not do anything about it. The blonde made up her mind and decided her and John were overdue for a conversation. She didn't know how much it would help, but she was sure it wouldn't do any harm.

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**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Let me know what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	33. Chapter 33

John was glad school was over for the day and he could finally go home. That biology exam was no walk in the park, he had to wonder why the students were forced to stay in school after those four long hours of torture. Other than the exam, school had been very interesting to say the least. He knew Lita's outburst at lunch had some to do with him because of the way Trish kept looking at him like she wanted to say something during lunch and when they crossed paths in the hallway while going to the last class of the day. And then there was the fact that Stephanie and Edge both looked like they had to literally bite their tongues from talking to him about something other than the group discussion during Philosophy. He was just glad no one said anything to him because he was not in the mood to deal with that.

Just as John was about to get inside his car and began to think that he would be able to leave school unscathed, he heard a familiar voice stop him. "Hey John," Trish called up from behind the other teen who rolled his eyes as he turned around to face her.

"What do you want?" The brunette asked the blonde even though he already knew the answer to that question.

"Wow. Why so mean?"

"I'm trying to go home so I'll ask you again, what do you want?"

"I need to talk to you."

John shrugged as he turned back around so he could get inside his car and drive away home. "That's unfortunate because I'm not up for it."

Trish shook her head. "No no no, the only person it's unfortunate for is for you because I'm not leaving from here until you listen to what I have to say."

"Great, you have fun out here, I'll just be heading home then. You better hope the forecast was wrong and it doesn't start raining."

"No you won't," Trish said as she walked over and stood in front of John's car. "I'm not moving away from here so unless you run me over or talk to me, you're not going either."

"You're crazy."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

John didn't say anything for a moment as he looked at his car, trying to think of another way to get out of there. He just had to wait for the car parked behind him to leave before he could back his way out of there and leave or he would be stuck there until Trish got tired of waiting around. But then there was another option. The brunette sighed before turning his attention back to the blonde. "You have five minutes."

Trish clapped her hands excitedly when she finally got what she wanted and it was pretty easy getting it. She felt like she was one step closer to her goal of assisting Lita with her issues with John. "I knew you would come around."

"Is that how you want to spend your five, but now four and a half minutes?"

"Why are you being such an asshole to Lita?" Trish asked, deciding to just jump right into it and not argue how she just lost thirty seconds for absolutley no reason. She didn't want to lose anymore time. "You won't listen to anything she has to say, you're ignoring her, and when you're not ignoring her, you're saying some pretty harsh things to her. And it's not just the things you say to her, it's the way you say them. And seriously John, don't you think you're being a little dramatic? I saw the text you sent her where you called her a 'cold hearted bitch'."

"The girl who's standing in front of my car just so I'll talk to her is going to tell me that I'm being dramtic?" John didn't wait for Trish to say anything in response as he continued. "I'm just treating her the same way she treates me so I don't see the big deal here. Of course I don't expect you to see that she's in the wrong here."

"Of course not. I'm always going to be on her side no matter what. You both screwed up, I don't car who is in the wrong more because obviously I'm going to say you are. She could have killed someone in front of me and I would lie for her in a second. She's like my sister."

"Obviously you're biased so I don't even know why I'm listening to you."

"Well we established that you already knew that and stop cutting into my time." The blonde paused for a minute before continuing. "Look, stop being an ass and just talk to her. I know you're not totally stupid and you know that her little thing in the cafeteria during lunch had to do with you. Victoria told me that she saw Li talk to you after the exam today and she doesn't know what was said, but her mood has been off since then. She cares about you and I know you care about her so don't even try and lie to me. She... I'm not going to say that word because that's something you already know and needs to say for herself, but she really really really likes you, you idiot! You're like really pissing me off. Just fix your shit!"

John didn't say anything for a moment because he was kind of surprised by Trish's sudden change towards the end, but he knew he shouldn't have been. "Okay. You're five minutes are up and I'm leaving." But before he could do as he said, Trish grabbed his arm and stopped him in place.

Trish shook her head, not letting go of the hold she had on John. "No, I still have some time left. I should get a minute back just for that."

"Not gonna happen," John said as he pulled his arm out of Trish's hold. "But go ahead and finish."

"She was acting like a little kid when you wanted to talk to her, but she didn't want to talk to you. Now that she actually wants to talk to you, you're acting like a bitch."

John raised a brow as he interrupted the other teen. "She was acting like a kid and I was acting like a bitch? If I'm a bitch-"

"Shut up," Trish scowled. "Fine, you both are bitches, are you happy?" She didn't wait for John to say anything in response as she continued. "Point is, you both can be on the same page now and just talk in out. You both hurt each other in your own ways so you're kinda even now right?" Trish waited for John to say something, but he just stayed silent so she continued. "John, I just want my best-friend back, she's hasn't been the best moods lately and I know she screwed up, but so did you so you need to get the fuck over it and you're really pissing me off so I'm gonna take a moment to breathe before I punch you in your face, okay?"

"I'll just go-"

"No!" Trish shouted which earned them the attention of a couple of people walking by for a moment. "No," she repeated before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath before opening them up again. "Okay, I think I'm good now."

"You sure?" John asked, even though he really didn't care at all.

Trish nodded. "Mhm. Okay, where was I? Right. School is coming to an end pretty soon, don't you think you should solve your issues before the end? Then everyone is going there separate ways and then it's kind of going to be late and you'll probably end up regretting that. I'm not saying get back together even though clearly you both want that-"

"No."

Trish snorted at John's interruption. "Sure, keep lying to yourself. Anyways..." Trish trailed off wheb something else came to mind. "Wait! I just remembered. Sure everyone is going their separate ways, but as destiny would have it, you two are going to the same school." John rolled his eyes at the word 'destiny' but didn't say anything particular about it because he was pretty sure Trish was one smart comment away from scratching his eyes out. "See? You can totally work it out now! You don't really have the time restraint, but you kinda do because time can ruin things. And then college is going to start and you both will be busy and it's possible you could just forget about this whole thing, but you obviously want to try and fix this first."

"Really?" John cut her off. "Do I really want to fix thing? You did say we could just get busy when the semester rolls around and just forget so wouldn't that be easier than having to deal with this?"

"John-"

"And smarter. You know what? I screwed up and I admit that. I tried to fix my mistake, but she wasn't having any of it and now... I don't want to do this. Like I told her, I'll forget about her and this soon. I'm already half way there."

"Don't lie," Trish shook her head, not believing a word John just said.

"Good-bye Trish," John said as he opened the door of the driver's side before getting in, "your five minutes are up." With that said, he closed the door and drove away. He was very glad and kind of surprised that Trish didn't try to stop him from leaving. He knew it was only a matter of time before he sucked it up and spoke to Lita, but he wanted her to feel the way he felt when she was avoiding him when he tried to repair their relationship. But then again, wasn't her wanting to make him feel as bad as she did when the bet was revealed what got them in this mess in the first place? Maybe he would have to rethink his strategy and just listen to what she had to say.

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**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Let me know what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	34. Chapter 34

The week was finally over and it meant there was only one more week left of school. This past week had been pretty long and stressful to say the least, John was pretty sure the final week was going to be just the same. Not only did he have these final exams and papers to worry about, there was a certain blonde who wouldn't stop texting him or talking to him every time they crossed paths in the hallways. John was ready to block her number or even change his own number as a way for the annoying constant texts and even calls- which he never answered- from coming, but he was convinced Trish would still find a way to harass him.

The blonde teen hadn't stopped texting the brunette since their conversation earlier that week. Trish wanted to know why John hadn't sought out Lita yet so they could actually talk. He didn't know the answer to that question himself so he didn't know what he could have told her. There were a couple of times that week John really did want to approach Lita, but it wasn't a conversation he wanted to have at school and he didn't get a chance to see her outside of school. And there was also the fact that he wasn't so sure what he was going to say to his ex-girlfriend.

John was going to have to come up with what he was going to say to Lita soon because he was standing a few feet away from her. She was currently sitting on the top of the hill, looking at the harbor right across from her with her back faced towards him so she was completely unaware of the visitor she was about to get in a couple of minutes. He found out from Randy where Lita was when he showed up to their house to speak to her and he was pretty surprised he actually got an answer from the other teen. John was convinced Randy still hated him even though his demeanor towards John had changed lately, but that didn't seem to be the case for whatever reason.

Without giving it another thought, John walked up to Lita who seemed to be in her own little world. He hesitated for a moment before taking a seat right next to her. "Hey," John said, letting her know that she wasn't alone anymore.

Lita was ready to tell which ever random person who joined her to leave her alone, but the voice sounded very familiar to her. She looked over to her right side to see that she was very well acquainted with the owner of the voice. She didn't say anything a moment as the duo simply stared at one another. Lita was very surprised to see her ex-boyfriend sitting right next to her. "Hi."

John didn't say anything in response as he continued to stare at Lita for another few moments before turning his attention to the scene in front of them with the redhead doing the same. She was very surprised to see him and wondered what he was even doing there in the first place. Last Lita remembered, John was avoiding her like the plague and now he was actually sitting next to her.

"I get why you like coming down here," John began to say as he continued to look at the view of the city. "It's looks... peaceful. Especially at night."

"Yea, except it's like the total opposite especially at night."

"Well, it is difficult for us to see people being thrown into the harbor from up here."

Lita couldn't help but smile to herself when those words left John's mouth. Whether or not he meant it, she immediately thought about all the times she told him someone needed to drown him in the body of water during one of their petty arguments. The smile immediately left her face when she remembered how things had changed so much between then and now. "What are you doing here?" She asked as she looked over at her ex-boyfriend.

The brunette shrugged as he turned his attention to the redhead. "I don't know. I wanted to talk to you about everything. Or I guess finally listen to what you have to say and maybe we can finally have a civil conversation about... everything."

"Oh, so now you're ready to talk to me?" Lita began to say before she could even register what she was saying. "Have you ever thought about the fact that maybe I don't want to talk to you? That I don't have anything to say to you anymore?"

John rolled his eyes. "Really Lita?" He groaned in frustration. Was she being serious right now? "You want to do this now? Again? You just want to keep playing these games? You know it gets really old-"

"I'm sorry," Lita cut John off. "I don't know why I just said any of that. I'm glad you came. I really..." She trailed off and paused for a moment, trying to stop herself from sounding so desperate. "Look, I'm... I really am sorry for everything with Christian, for trying to make you jealous, for trying to hurt you. I was so angry with you after the whole bet thing came out and it pissed me off even more hearing the truth from that stupid slutty bitch. I hate her so much. I just want to punch that stupid face of hers everytime I see her. I-"

"Are you going to be okay?" John interrupted Lita's tirade on how she really felt about Stacy.

Lita shook her head when she was brought right back to reality. "Sorry, but she really gets on my damn nerves."

"I can see."

"Like, seriously John, I wouldn't have been this angry with you if you just told me about the lousy bet in the first place. Yes, I would have been mad, but I would have gotten over it in like a week or two because you actually told me. Since it came from someone else's mouth, it makes it seem like you were hiding it and you were never going to tell me, just keep me in the dark. I wish you would have just told me because it wouldn't have gotten this far. I wouldn't have... christian... like-"

"So are you back to blaming me again for what you did."

Lita shook her head. "No. All I'm saying is that all of this bullshit could have been prevented if you just told me the truth yourself. I just wanted to get back at you because I thought I wanted to see you just as hurt as you made me feel, but I was so wrong about that. I mean, I'll admit that it felt good to see you jealous, but then it wasn't about that anymore. At the party..." she began to recall their blowout at Stacy's party, "that was just... that was... horrible. That's when I realized that I seriously screwed up bad. I wasn't thinking clearly, I was so pissed off at you and I just wanted revenge, but that was a really stupid decision. I made a mistake and I'm truly sorry for that. I never thought... I didn't think that it would get... it was so stupid."

John opened his mouth to respond, but Lita continued when she thought of something. "And you really thought it was smart of you to kiss that stupid bimbo-"

"Well, you kind of did the same thing."

"I didn't kiss him."

John rolled his eyes. "Sure, you were just all over him, practically giving him a lap dance when you knew I was around and could possibly see you."

"You're disgusting."

"I wasn't the one getting all touchy feely with someone else."

"Yea, just trading spit. I really hate you."

John snorted and shook his head. "No you don't."

Lita scowled. "Shut up. You don't know how I feel."

"I'm pretty sure I do."

"You're annoying."

"Same could be said about you babe."

The redhead scrunched her nose in disgust, clearly not amused by what he just called her. "Don't call me that."

"Why not?" He waited a moment before continuing, a smirk present on his face. "Babe."

Lita rolled her eyes as she looked away from John and at the cars driving by below them. "Asshole," she muttered under her breath which didn't go unheard by him. The glare was back on her face as she focused her attention back on John when she heard him laughing a few moments later.

"I forgot how fun this could be. Me getting on your nerves and you getting pissed off for no reason whatsoever."

"Go drown."

"Only if you're going with me."

"Why don't you just take that slutty whore of yours with you?"

"Am I sensing some jealousy? I thought you hated me."

"Shut up. I do hate you. So damn much."

"Or maybe that's just something you have to keep telling yourself, hoping it will come true if you say that outloud enough times."

Lita didn't say anything in response as she simply stared at John. She hated how he just knew that was the truth. And why did she even think that would work in the first place? "We both screwed up," he began to say after a while, getting them back to the point after they got a little off topic. "We both did things I'm sure we regret. I know I regret the bet. When I first agreed to it, I really didn't think it was such a big deal. I never thought I would actually start liking you. And the moment I realized that I actually began thinking of you as a friend and that I might like you more than just that, I told Chris I wanted out. As for kissing Stacy, well, I was just retaliating to you and whatever that was with Christian. Trust me, I didn't enjoy that."

The redheaded teen nodded. "I know. I just want to forget about all of that."

"So do I," the brunette teen nodded in agreement.

"But it's not easy because it really hurt, John. It sucked to learn that i was just a game to someone I was falling for."

"It stopped a long time ago."

"Okay, but that doesn't change how I felt. I mean, like everything you did was confusing. Were some things that you did for me just for the bet or were you being genuine? Like, were you faking just being nice because of the bet or because you actually liked me?"

"The pretty early stuff was all the bet, like homecoming, but then soon after that, it started off as me just being there for my friend."

Lita stayed silent as she tried to study John's face to see if she could actually believe him even though she already made that decision, but she couldn't help but to feel a bit hesitant. "Okay."

"Okay," was all John said before it became quiet once again before he broke the silence. "So now what? I mean, where does that leave us?"

Lita shrugged. "I don't know. I really don't know. Like, I'm just so over that whole bet shit and I'm glad we finally talked about- do something foolish like that again and I will have no other option to kill you- but it's not... it's always going to be there John. I don't... I don't know."

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**Thanks for reading. Thanks for the reviews. Hope you liked the chapter. Let me know what you think, please and thanks. :)**


	35. Chapter 35

"_Okay," was all John said before it became quiet once again before he broke the silence. "So now what? I mean, where does that leave us?"_

_Lita shrugged. "I don't know. I really don't know. Like, I'm just so over that whole bet shit and I'm glad we finally talked about it- do something foolish like that again and I will have no other option to kill you- but it's not... it's always going to be there John. I don't... I don't know."_

_John nodded."You're right, we can't change what happened so it's always gong to be there. I wish I could take it back, but I can't. And you just said you're over it so why are you letting it effect us now?"_

_"I don't know," was all Lita said as she shook her head._

_The brunette stayed silent for a speaking up. "Lita... __I want to be with you. Maybe it's a mistake to jump back into it right away because of what happened and what was said after it all-"_

_"You were kind of harsh these last few days. Like the way you spoke to me and what you said," the redhead cut him off._

_The brunette teen nodded. "We both were. I was so angry and I just thought that was the best way to create some distance between us. Like, for you to back off and it would be easier to let it go or something.. I don't know." John shook his head as he got back to his main point. "Look, I don't care if I'm being stupid by straight jumping back into this because of everything these past couple of weeks. I don't want to do the whole 'let's just be friends and see where it goes' bullshit. That's such a waste of time because I know I want to be with you, I don't just want to be your friend, and I know you want the same. Maybe it won't work, maybe it will. Maybe we'll break up in a month, maybe we won't. We won't know that unless we give it a chance." He paused for a brief moment before continuing. "I said it before and I'll say it again because I still mean it, I love you."_

_Lita didn't say anything as she decided to look away from John at the moment while she thought about everything he just said. She knew she didn't want to do the whole 'friends' thing with him either. She felt exactly the same he just expressed, s__o what was stopping her? "Nothing," she muttered under her breath._

_"What?" John asked. He wasn't able to hear what Lita said, but he heard her say something._

_Lita looked over at John and shook her head. "Nothing. Um... you're right. I want to be with you too John. It sounds so funny just saying it because not even a year ago, I wanted to kill you," she said which earned her a chuckle from John. "I never thought I would actually fall in love with you and fall into some sort of funk because of our stupid issues. I never thought I would be that upset because you weren't talking to me because that's like something I wanted many times before. But here we are." She smiled before continuing. "I love you."_

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"You two are so disgusting," Trish said one morning as she watched her bestfriend and her bestfriend's boyfriend who were standing a few feet away from where she was standing next to Lita's car. "You're going to be gone for only two weeks. Like, just say goodbye so John can get lost and we can the show on he road!"

The redheaded teen rolled her eyes as she looked over at the blonde. "He's only been here for like two minutes. You need to relax."

"Two minutes too long. It only takes one second to say goodbye. He already monopolized enough of your time this last month and let's not forgot the fact that you didn't go to prom and you totally ditched me for him-"

"Wasn't gonna go either way," Lita shook her head with Trish continuing like she hadn't just gotten interrupted.

"-so you owe me-"

"Ugh!" Lita groaned as she cut her friend short. "Are you always going to use that against me?" Trish simply nodded in response. "Well, it stopped working like two weeks ago so get over it. You can't always say 'you didn't go to prom, so clean my room' or something stupid like that. Get over it."

"Damn it. I should've gotten you to pack for me," Trish said only to be ignored by Lita.

"Plus, I'm only stopping by for like five minutes," John began to say as he broke his silence much to Trish's chargin. She had something against him lately which he wasn't too sure about, not that he really cares, but he did find it hilarious. "She's going to be with you for the next two weeks so stop acting so possessive."

Trish didn't say anything for a moment, simply looking away for a moment as she looked back over to John and walked towards him.

"Okay, this is happening?" John tried to take a step back as a way to create some distance between himself and Trish who only closed the distance yet again.

"Listen up here Johnny boy. Lita is my best-friend, okay? You are just a little boy and as one Brooke Davis would say, 'hoes over bros' and in this scenario, you are a bro. I don't care how short or long you last, but I come first, she's mine. The sooner you accept that, the better." She shot a glare the redhead's way when she heard the other teen laughing.

John stayed silent for a while as he thought about what Tristan just said before he completely burst into laughter, joining Lita. "You were right," the brunette said after he and the redhead were able to calm down a bit, "she is even more crazier now that she broke up with Jeff."

Trish scowled at the duo who were back to laughing at her. "I hate you both." She was about to walk away, but stopped as she focused her attention to Lita. "We have to pick up Victoria and Stephanie before we can finally hit the road so if you're not in the car within five minutes, I will leave you."

"I'm pretty sure that's my car we're taking."

Trish shrugged. "Don't care. You're getting on my nerves and John is an asshole so you now have two minutes," she said before sending one dirty look towards John before finally walking away and getting inside the redhead's Jeep.

"Not long ago, she threatened me to speak to you and now she wants to kill me," John said once Trish was out of sight. "There are some few loose screws in that brain of hers."

Lita nodded. "Told you she's crazy," she said before changing the topic. "So what are you up to these next few days?"

John raised a brow. "Is this your way of checking up on me?"

Lita rolled her eyes. "John, just answer the question. It's not that hard."

John shrugged as he began to do just as he was told. "Nothing really. Not a two week road trip that's for sure. But my brothers are home for a while so we'll probably make a trip to Ocean City or something. I don't know. They said they wanted to go somewhere new so we'll see."

"Are you going to behave?"

"And now I know for sure you're checking up on me. Is someone jealous?"

"Shut up. What the hell do I have to be jealous of?"

"I always behave."

The other teen opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when she heard the sound of Trish honking the horn. "It hasn't been like even a minute. I'm going to commit murder in this trip. Yea, I can see it now. Not hard to imagine."

"You sure you wanna do that? I probably won't visit you in prison."

"Well that's mean."

"Just the truth babe."

Lita scowled. "I told you not to call me that. I'm not a pig. You might be, but I'm not. Oh my God, trish!" Lita shouted as she looked towards where Trish pressed the car horn yet again. "Learn to be patient."

"Two minutes are up," Trish shouted back as she stuck her head out the window to look over at the other two. "We're going on five!"

"Just shut up!" Lita shouted once last time before turning her attention back to John who couldn't help but laugh.

"You have fun with that one. I'm thinking I'm going to have more fun at work the next few hours than you are with her and Stephanie in one car."

"Headphones and books are going to be a savior for when those two- especially blondie- annoy the hell out of me in the car. My escape plan."

John rolled his eyes when he saw Trish now standing outside the car, her eyes focused on the duo as she tapped her foot impatiently. "You should probably go before she gets all up in my face again," he said to Lita who didn't have to turn around to know that Trish was not sitting in the car anymore.

"She's going to drive me crazy." John smirked and was about to say something, but Lita beat him to it when she knew exactly what he was about to say. "Shut up," she said as she leaned it for a kiss. She was going to make it short, but of course her boyfriend had other plans, but she didn't mind at all. But there was one person who had an issue with it.

"Ugh. Get a room!" The redhead wasn't able to verbally respond to the blonde because she was a bit preoccupied, but she did send her friend a not so friendly gesture. "Oh real classy Li. You're lucky your parents are at work and aren't seeing this show you have displayed for your neighbors." With that said, Trish hopped back into the car.

"See you in two weeks?" Lita said after the two pulled apart after a while.

John nodded as smiled at his girlfriend with her returning the gesture. "I love you."

"I love you too." With one last quick kiss, Lita finally walked towards the car and joined Trish in the vehicle with the duo driving off a couple of moments later with John getting into his own car so he could head to work.

It was pretty weird for the both of them to think about how they weren't a fan of one another less than a year ago. They had been pretty much enemies for the last few years. There wasn't a day they wouldn't go without throwing insults towards one another. Hell, they couldn't stop doing that now either. Some thing would never change, but now they were actually a couple who didn't totally hate one another. And to think this all started off as a bet.

_***The End***_

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